


Time, Time, Time (See What's Become of Me)

by StarsAlignedinMisery (orphan_account)



Series: They Tell Me You've Touched the Face of God [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben is protective, Ben lives, Character Death, Diego Feels, Diego is bad with feelings, Diego was a jealous little shit, Dysfunctional Family, Family Issues, Hospitals, Klaus Hargreeves feels, Klaus can get really dark, Klaus gets clean, Klaus is a doctor, Klaus is malnourished, Klaus is trying really hard not to screw up, M/M, Sibling Incest, Temporary Character Death, is it incest if they aren't actually related, it'll all be explained
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 07:18:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17862830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/StarsAlignedinMisery
Summary: When Number Five disappears, so did Number Four. He packed a bag, left a note saying that he was done and disappeared into the night. Luther isn’t sure how he feels about that. He knows that at the age of thirteen, Number Four is far too young to be on his own. So he looks everywhere in his free time instead of disappearing into alcoves with Allison or getting into trouble with Diego. When Ben nearly dies, he watches his family scatter to the wind. They think he stayed because of their father.He stayed so if Number Four came back he wouldn’t feel alone.Then he was sent to the moon.





	1. But if your hope should pass away

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I really wanted to write a fic for this fandom and I really wanted to write a fic where Ben is alive. So I wrote an AU! I hope you enjoy

Klaus Fischer looked up at the place he swore he would never go back to. The Umbrella Academy loomed over him like straight out of a bad memory.

“Fucker dies after that letter. Let’s meet Klaus, I’m sorry Klaus, there’s things you don’t understand Klaus, Vanya needs you Klaus. Fucker.” He muttered before pushing the gate open and knocking on the door. 

It wasn’t his home anymore, he had manners. 

The door opened and Pogo stood there. Klaus gave him a shit eating grin. The chimp looked older, which was weird because Klaus always remembered the chimp looking old but somehow he looked like he had more grey hairs

“Welcome home Number Four.” Pogo said softly stepping aside so that Klaus could enter. Klaus scoffed

“I’m only here for the funeral and whatever job Father had for me. Gotta get back to  _ my _ home before people connect the dots.” He said stepping inside. Pogo sighed behind him but didn’t say anything. The place hadn’t changed much. It was still large, ostentatious, and cold. 

“I will tell Mom that you have arrived.” Pogo said and Klaus shifted his duffle bag from one shoulder to the other. The place was quiet. Klaus had memories of so much noise filling the place. It was almost as bad as a mausoleum. Klaus hated mausoleums, churches, and cemeteries. Too many dead people roamed those halls

“Am I the only one here? I thought for sure Number One would still be sulking around this place.” He said following the chimp towards the staircase. Pogo sighed

“Master Luther was sent to the moon for an important mission. He will be back in soon.” Pogo said and Klaus chuckled

“Finally gave everyone real names, huh? About time. Of course, I gave myself my own name. Klaus Fischer.” Klaus said and Pogo turned to him

“That is an interesting name. Why did you chose Fischer?” Pogo asked and Klaus shrugged

“It’s a common enough German last name. I knew Father got me from Germany so it was an emotional decision that I ran with. The fake background I bought was of the child of two German immigrants who died in a fire. Got me into the system without being flagged as a Harvgreeves. From there I got a shit ton of therapy which helped me control my powers better than being locked in a mausoleum.” Klaus said flippantly. He had worked hard to get over his problems. His addiction, his powers, the shit that came with being gay. 

“I’m glad that you have done well with yourself. I heard that you were a therapist now.” Pogo said as they entered the sitting room. 

“Psychiatrist actually. I work at New Amsterdam Hospital. Work with mostly teenagers and kids. Some adults who are special cases.” Klaus said dropping his bag on the floor beside the couch and sinking down on the soft surface

“I can tell that you work far too much, you look as if a stiff breeze would blow you over.” Pogo said and Klaus laughed

“Doesn’t pay well Pogo. Long hours and lots of instant ramen are my life.” He said grinning 

“And you’ve stayed off the drugs?” Pogo asked seemingly innocent but Klaus knew it was anything but. He froze. He knew this would come up eventually. It always would. He had been a raging addict when he left, they would have not seen the transformation that he went through to get himself clean

“Fifteen years last spring.” Klaus said pulling a plastic bag out of his pocket. Inside were a handful of coins, thirty days, sixty days, ninety days, one year, two years, five years, ten years, fifteen years. Milestones that he had gone through alone. 

“I’m sure that your father would be proud.” Pogo said fondly and Klaus shrugged

“I think he would have been happier if I had stuck around. Pretended to be the perfect superkid that none of us were. Still, getting out probably saved my life.” Klaus said. There was the sound of a door opening and he turned to see Number One standing in the doorway. He had gotten huge, looming in the opening like some sort of giant. 

“Welcome home Master Luther.” Pogo said in his usual calm manner. Klaus didn’t think Number One had even noticed that the chimp had spoken

“Number Four?” Number One said hesitantly and Klaus waved and gave a cheeky grin

“Fancy seeing you here.” He said cockily. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to keep the facade of being alright up for too much longer. He would need to find a place to take his pills. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he groaned before fishing it out. When he saw it was Lucy from the hospital, he answered it immediately

“Hey Lu, what’s the issue?” Klaus asked 

“It’s Becca. She’s demanding to see you.” Lucy said and Klaus could hear the girl in question screaming profanities in the background. 

“Did she take her meds?” Klaus asked holding up his finger when Number One went to say something

“No, she refuses to. I tried to do that explaining thing that you do but it only upset her more. Do you think you could get over here for an hour or two and calm her down?” Lucy asked and Klaus pinched the bridge of his nose

“I would love to but there are things happening that I’m not sure I can get away from. Sedate her for now and get those meds into her through the IV. Up her Lithium, add 80 mg of Latuda and take her off the Celexa. I’ll be back in a couple of days to see if this will help but let me know if something drastic happens before then.” Klaus ordered. He could hear Lucy write the new orders down

“Alright. Be careful with whatever you’re doing. You’ve worked here, what, seven years and you’ve never taken a day off.” Lucy said in a joking manner. Klaus rolled his eyes

“It’s a funeral. Not much fun. I’ll be back in a few days.” Klaus said. Lucy said goodbye and hung up. When Klaus glanced back at Number One, he had a frown on his face

“Stop thinking so hard Number One, your face will get stuck like that.” Klaus joked as the front door opened again. 

“Where the hell have you been Number Four?” Number One asked and Klaus shrugged

“Living a perfectly normal life. It’s wonderful.” Klaus said standing. He came up to maybe Number One’s nose. That was of course when Number Three walked in. She was pretty, Klaus had followed her rise to fame in Hollywood so he knew she had turned out pretty. It was still different seeing her in person.

“Number Four?” She said sounding broken. Klaus sighed

“Look, honestly the only reason I even showed back up is because Father said Vanya would need my help and that he was giving me a journal on her. Then he goes and kills himself which, while unfortunate, is not unusual for older people who don’t have any support. Pogo if you could get me said journal, I would like to see my patient’s history before beginning treatment.” Klaus said. Pogo nodded

“Of course, Master Klaus. If you would follow me to his study.” Pogo said and Klaus gave him an overly cheerful grin. Once they were in the study he let the grin drop

“Forgot how damaging this place is.” Klaus murmured as Pogo pulled out a black box with pearl overlay. 

“I’m not sure what you mean.” Pogo said handing over the journal that was inside.

“This place was never a stable home, no matter how much you and Mom tried to make it one. We were weapons and nothing more to Father.” Klaus said taking the journal

“It’s unwise to speak ill of the dead.” Pogo said and Klaus chuckled

“You forget, no one is ever really dead to me. They all live up here.” He said tapping his had with the corner of the journal. 

“Very well.” Pogo said and Klaus sighed

“I’m going to my room. Don’t tell the others where I am please.” Klaus said and Pogo nodded. Klaus made a hasty exit to the room that had belonged to him as a child. It was neater than he last remembered and when he flopped down on the bed he caught the stale whiff of Number Six. Figures. They had always been close, Klaus had never realized what his feelings had truly been for the other boy until after he had been sober for five years. He had loved Number Six. He still loved Number Six.

He still remembered watching the fight on television and looking over to the corner to see a blurry Number Six standing there. The fight where Number Six had almost died. Klaus had almost returned after hearing that Number Six would be alright. Almost. Pushing the dark thoughts away he checked his watch and pulled the two pill bottles out of his duffle bag. One was a multivitamin. He took it because instant ramen didn’t give someone enough nutrition to survive but he was a broke psychologist who worked way too many hours to be healthy. He needed the multivitamin to keep his body running. The other was adderall. He had been diagnosed with severe ADHD when he had been in high school. The adderall was the only reason he had graduated both high school and his undergraduate degree top of his class. Popping four gummy vitamins into his mouth he chewed them quickly before swallowing them down and swallowing down two adderall. His duffle bag was only half clothes, he didn’t plan on spending more than two nights here after all, and the other half were files for his patients. He was engrossed in a file on a boy who had been in and out of New Amsterdam for most of his childhood when a knock on the door brought him back to his surroundings. 

“Come in!” He called and the door opened to show Vanya. Klaus smiled

“Hello dove. I have the journal that Father said I would be getting on you. I haven’t cracked it open yet, figured we could do that in our session.” Klaus said and Vanya nodded. She seemed nervous and he patted the bed beside him. They had reconnected when she had published a scathing book about the seven of them. The only one escaping the worst of her anger had been him and she had spoken in depth about how she regretted what happened to him. He had shown up at a book reading and they had gone for coffee. He had been in medical school and she had helped him survive. 

“Diego is pissed that I’m here.” She said sitting down beside him

“Hey. He was your father too. Wait until Number Two sees me. Then he’ll be pissed.” Klaus said turning back to his file. Vanya snorted

“Why do you still refer to everyone but me by their numbers?” She asked and he shrugged

“Distance. If I admit to myself that they have real names it means they are real people. Not ghosts or figments of my mind. If they aren’t figments of my mind then they can hurt me. You Vanya could never hurt me, not because you’re normal but because you don’t have a cruel bone in your body.” Klaus said clinically. He knew he had issues. He was working through them. 

“Mind if I read that journal now?” Vanya asked. Klaus shrugged and passed it to her

“Just remember, breathe before you react. Whatever he has to say in there probably isn’t pleasant.” Klaus said. They remained in silence for another twenty minutes before there was the sound of several footsteps pounding down the hall. Klaus frowned when they stopped outside the line of sight from the door. 

“Get your asses in here and stop hovering.” Klaus said loudly when no one appeared for several minutes. Number Two and Number Six stepped into the room, frowns marring their faces. Klaus raised a eyebrow

“Hello. Can I help you?” He said. 

“Why’d you come back?” Number Two asked and Klaus shrugged

“Shits and giggles. Why do you think?” He said boredly. Vanya elbowed him and they shared a small look. Klaus sighed and shut the file in his lap

“Two questions each. I don’t have the patience for anything stupid either.” He said and he could see that his words left the other two men reeling. No doubt they had expected him to still be a broken little mess. He was still a mess but he wasn’t broken. He had taped himself together with the duct-tape of sheer determination not to have to come back.

“Where have you been?” Number Two asked and Klaus rolled his eyes

“Not far. Didn’t even leave the city.” Klaus said with a smirk. Number Two grit his teeth like he wanted to punch Klaus. 

“Why did you leave?” Number Six asked softly. Klaus frowned. He thought it would have been obvious why he left. 

“Because I was drowning under the weight of my abilities without anyone to help me learn how to swim.” Klaus said in an equally soft voice before adding, “And I was pulling you down with me. You deserved better than me.” The room was bathed in silence and then in a flurry of movement Number Six was gone. Klaus felt a pang of sadness at the loss. 

“You nearly killed him when you left. He was depressed. Father had to put him on antidepressants.” Number Two said and Klaus shrugged. 

“I had to be put on antipsychotics. Ask your last question.” Klaus said bitterly. Number Two stared at him for a long moment

“Did you ever love him?” He asked and Klaus reared back like he had been struck. 

“I’m not capable of love. Isn’t that what you used to tell me.” Klaus said heatedly. Number Two’s brow furrowed

“Number Four…” He began but Klaus cut him off

“That’s not my name. I am Klaus Fischer.” He snapped. He put the file he had been reading into his duffle bag and zipped it shut. 

“I’ll talk to you latter V. I need some air.” He said before brushing past Number Two and out the door. He had been a fool thinking he could come here and not have it affect him. He would not allow himself to backtrack though, he had a life that he would not give up.


	2. Said the joker to the thief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear lord, I love you guys. I really do. I said in a comment on the last chapter that Klaus is still broken he just hides it better which gets shown here in this chapter. He works hard to fight the darkness but sometimes it wins and you have to start all over again.

Ben couldn’t believe that Number Four was alive. They all had assumed he had died in some sort of overdose somewhere in the cold streets. Instead he was well put together, probably the sanest of them all.

“Ben?” Allison’s voice reminded him that he was too tall to truly hide under the desk anymore. He climbed out and gave her a weak smile

“Hey, how did it go?” She asked and he gave a dark chuckle

“He’s different. Can’t tell if he’s high or just has a dark sense of humor.” Ben admitted.

“He said Father killed himself.” She said and Ben took a shuddering breath.

“Why though? Why would he kill himself, it makes no sense?” Ben asked and it really didn’t. Father wasn’t suicidal. Allison shrugged

“I have no idea. He could be fucking with us. He would say shit like that when he was high, remember. Try to get reactions out of all of us.” She said and he nodded. Number Four had always loved his attention, always wanted someone to be looking at him. Ben had always made time for the other boy, always made sure that Number Four ate and didn’t choke on his own vomit when he came home trashed. It hadn’t been hard to fall in love, even if it was a twisted kind of love. Number Four had been hurtling towards an early grave. That was why everyone but Luther had thought he was dead. Luther had kept looking even when Ben had begged him to let Number Four go. They heard the front door slam and Allison peered out of the room to see Luther watching the entrance hall

“And there he goes.” Luther murmured

“Who?” Ben asked, his gut sinking as he already knew the answer.

“Klaus.” Luther said and Ben was confused for only just a moment before realizing that Klaus was Number Four. Dread sunk into his bones like cold frost. What if he didn’t come back? Ben didn’t think he could lose the other again.

“Relax Ben, he didn’t have his bag. He’s coming back.” Luther said and Ben took a deep breath.

“Okay.” He muttered. He vaguely remembered heading towards his room only to find himself standing in the doorway of Number Four’s room. Vanya was sitting on the bed and looked at him when he appeared. She gave him a soft smile before closing the book she had been reading and setting it on the bedside table.

“He’ll be back.” She said before slipping out of the room past him. Ben barely registered her words as he collapsed on the bed. It smelt strongly of Number Four, his scent barely having changed from all those years ago. Ben barely noticed drifting off with tears streaming down his face.

Sometime later someone came in.

“Oh Darling.” A familiar voice murmured and then someone was shifting him around, taking off his boots and coat and tucking him under the blanket. Ben wrapped his arms around the person, burying his nose in their hip and inhaling that scent he had been chasing.

“Liebling, oh, Liebling. What did I do to you?” The person said but Ben didn’t really care what the words were. Fingers were running through his hair in such a soothing manner. Ben drifted down into sleep.

“...disturb him but I have to pee.” Number Four’s voice was so soft yet so close

“He is clinging rather tight, isn’t he? Maybe he doesn’t want you to leave. I know I don’t.” Vanya. That was Vanya’s voice. Why was Vanya in his dreams? He dreamt of Number Four so often it wasn’t unusual for him to hear that voice but he never dreamt of Vanya. Brows furrowing, Ben pulled his pillow closer to himself only to realize he was clinging to someone’s very bony hips. Instantly he shot up to find he was in bed with Number Four who looked amused

“Don’t worry Darling. I’m used to people falling asleep on me. Perks of the job.” He said as he slipped out of the bed. Ben knew his face must have been bright red. Number four pointed a finger at Vanya

“Delete that photo. Now.” He said, his voice cold as ice in a way Ben had never heard it. Vanya held up her hands in surrender, a playful smirk on her lips

“What picture. The one where you two are sleeping in the same bed like you used to when you were kids?” Vanya said and it took Ben a minute to realize she was teasing Number Four. He had never heard her sound like that before, never so happy or light. Number Four held out his hand and she pouted

“I won’t show it to anyone. Promise.” She said clutching a phone to her chest. Number Four raised an eyebrow and Vanya caved. She fiddled with the phone for a moment before passing it over to be inspected. Number Four scrolled through the screen before passing it back

“Thank you. You know I can’t take any risks.” He said before leaving the room. Vanya sighed and turned towards Ben

“He’s super against having any connection to us. I’m surprised he still talks to me after we found each other.” She said. Ben frowned

“Why?” He asked and her face darkened

“I don’t know exactly. Just he got close to someone who learned who he was and tried to use him.” She said. Ben nodded

“He’s not...using still, is he?” He asked and she shrugged

“I don’t think so. I do see him take pills sometimes but I don’t know what they are.” Vanya said before leaving the room. Ben knew she knew more than she was saying. She was picking her words carefully. Number Four returned with a stretch

“Number One requests our presence in the drawing room.” He said with a yawn. Ben nodded and got up, grabbing his coat and pulling it on. He left his shoes where they were at the base of the bed.

An excuse to come back.

 

Klaus looked at the portrait of himself and Number Five that hung over the fireplace.

“Don’t remember looking that healthy.” He said to the room. The conversation about their Father’s death that had previously been going on behind him ceased at the comment. Klaus cocked his head

“I mean I know I was unhealthy but this portrait doesn’t show that.” He continued knowing everyone was watching him.

“Klaus, why did you say Father killed himself?” Number Three asked and Klaus shrugged

“He told me. Such a shame really. He was trying to guilt us all back here. After all, what better way to get the gang back together than a funeral. I must admit, he could have just left a note and ended your silly disagreement. Though if he had left a note it would probably have been long winded and utterly dry.” Klaus mused. He spun to face his dumbstruck family

“Don’t look at me like that. You all look like idiots, well, not you V dear. You already knew of course, being with me when I talked to our esteemed Father.” Klaus said and Vanya sighed

“I know. You shouted at him for at least four minutes straight about how suicide is never the answer. Then you threatened to not show up and he had to bribe you with the journal.” She said. Number Two glared at her and Klaus was proud to see her stand firm under the scalding gaze

“You knew Number Four was alive, that he was okay, and you didn’t tell anyone?” Number Two snarled and Klaus put himself between the seething knife wielder and his best friend

“Now Number Two, if I had wanted you all to know where I was, I would have returned. Meeting Vanya was...well, it wasn’t an accident because I actively sought her out, but it wasn’t supposed to last. I had questions for her and since she had been expelled from all of your good graces after her book, I figured she was no doubt the only person who would understand.” Klaus said lightly, he knew he had to keep his own mood up or else he would lose control of his abilities. This place was eating at his control enough already

“Understand what?” Number Two snarled taking a step towards Klaus. Klaus shrugged

“Loss. We two lost souls. Ordinary in every way. V understood what it was like to live under a microscope and never measure up.” Klaus said spinning away and landing on the couch between Vanya and Number Six.

“Did you know she pitied me? I didn’t. I always pitied her. Left out by all of us, forgotten when we went on missions. I envied her. Until we really got talking we didn’t realize how alike the two of us were. We were the screw ups. The ones Father was ashamed of.” Klaus snarled. Number Two drew back. Something flickering across his face. Klaus pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and a bic lighter.

“Father didn’t permit smoking.” Number One said and Klaus chuckled

“He can tell me himself I’m sure.” He said as he lit up and took a deep drag. He exhaled slowly, letting the smoke burn his lungs as it tried to escape. Number Six shifted away from him and he sighed.

“Well, as fun as this family reunion has been, I think we should say our goodbyes to dear old Father and scatter off again.” He said. They piled out into the courtyard and Number One began to speak but was interrupted when a blue glowing cloud appeared in the corner. Number One and Number Two stood keeping everyone else behind them. Klaus was fine with that. He didn’t have the training anymore to fight whatever was going to come through. No one expected Number Five to fall out.

“Well I’m going to need more therapy.” Klaus said with a hysterical giggle that he couldn’t keep from slipping from his lips. Number five stood up slowly and looked at them before rushing at him and hugging him

“You’re okay. I’d hoped I got here in time.” Number Five exclaimed before stepping back and looking himself over

“I’m thirteen again. Well shit.” He said and Klaus decided then and there that he was most definitely done with this shit. Nothing ever happened like this at the hospital. He turned and headed back towards the house so that he could get his things and get out. Father’s funeral be damned.

“They’re going to kill you, Number Four.” Number Five called and Klaus paused. Yeah, Number Five had definitely gone crazy. He would no doubt need lots of therapy. And pills too probably.

“I’m already halfway there Love!” Klaus called.

“No you’re not. You haven’t taken drugs in fifteen years.” Number Five said. Klaus froze. He turned to face his family, Vanya looked ashen.

“You don’t know anything about me Number Five. No one does.” Klaus said, his voice was dark, his smile dangerous. Number Five didn’t seem bothered.

“Your name is Klaus Fischer, you graduated high school and your undergrad at the top of your class. You were second in medical school. You were offered a large paying job at Mercy Hospital but you turned it down to work at New Amsterdam. You work more than you should, eat a lot of ramen, take extra vitamin tablets to offset the lack of nutrients. You take Adderall, more than you should granted, but it’s the only drug you’ve taken for a very long time. You’re giving Vanya therapy. Helping her with her anxiety and issues with the rest of us. It’s why the company I worked for wants you dead. With you out of the way the apocalypse will happen.” Number Five said in a no-nonsense way. Klaus paled at the way he laid out facts about Klaus that no one but Vanya had known.

“Fuck you.” Klaus snarled, “How do you know all that shit?” Five seemed to take a step back and Klaus realized he had summoned one of his battalion. Dave. The ghost put a hand on his shoulder and Klaus took a deep shaky breath

“Holy shit.” He heard Number Six say but Klaus was more focused on Dave

“What are you doing here?” He asked the ghost who shrugged

“We could sense that you were getting upset. I drew the short straw.” Dave said and Klaus scoffed

“I’ve been a lot more stressed. Remember the hostage situation? None of you showed up then.” Klaus said and Dave chuckled

“Different kind of stress. And you were still on the antipsychotics then, your connection to us was weaker.” Dave said and Klaus knew the ghost was right. It still sucked to lose control.

“How are we able to see him?” Number Two asked and Klaus shrugged

“I’ve gotten a lot stronger. More strength means I can make them corporal which means everyone can see them. Dave, will you punch Number Two for me.” Klaus said lightly. Dave laughed and then suddenly he was in front of Number Two and gave him delivered a wonderful suckerpunch that sent Number Two sprawling. Everyone scrambled back but Dave was already disappearing and reappearing beside Klaus.

“What the hell was that for?” Number One demanded and Klaus shrugged

“Donno. Proving a point. I’m still pretty messed up, I just hide it better.” He said and let Dave disappear back to the darkness. Number Two jumped to his feet with a snarl, knife in hand and Klaus raised an eyebrow.

“Would you like to see what else I can do?” He asked slyly. Number Two lunged for him and he dodged out of the way sending the knife wielder into a invisible wall. He quickly boxed the knife wielder in with walls that only he could see

“Such a shame Father tried to break me, I think I could have turned out better if he hadn’t loved to torture me. But you, you’re the one that shattered me. I came to you, I wanted so badly to trust you with the one thing that I was so scared of. I _wanted_ to love, to be loved.” Klaus said, forcing the walls to creep ever closer to Number Two. The others were staring in horror as their brother was struggling to breath

“You told me that I was a mess, that I could never love. That I was incapable of it.” Klaus hissed. Number Two’s face was turning blue from the lack of oxygen in his prison and suddenly someone was shoving Klaus over, breaking his concentration. Looking up from where he landed Klaus saw Number Six standing over him

“That’s enough Klaus.” Number Six said in a voice that held no emotion. Klaus huffed and tilted his head back to look at the sky

“Yeah, I suppose it is.” Klaus murmured to himself. He knew everyone was watching him warily. He had gone from being the walking joke of the team to being dangerous. To being deadly. Someone sat down beside him and he expected it to be Vanya. She had gotten used to his dark tendencies, the fact that he fought demons in his head every day was not new to her. His self-loathing was not hidden from her like it was with the rest of the world. Instead it was Five who was sitting beside him. Legs crossed and hands in his lap

“So what’s this about people trying to kill me?” Klaus asked lightly, ignoring the rest of the group in favor of pretending like it was just another sunshiny Tuesday. Five shrugged

“Not sure who they’ll send. Just know that you are the only standing between life as we know it and the end of the world” Number Five said and Klaus let out a soft huff of laughter

“I have one foot already in the grave. Always have.” Klaus said laying out flat. He could hear the others talking around him but didn’t care to listen. He was tired, he hadn’t really used his abilities like that in at least six months. The last time had been to stop a mugger from hurting a woman when he was walking back to his apartment one night. Dave had taken great pleasure in beating the shit out of them man. Klaus had let him walk the woman home, following along at a safe distance. Not that wasn’t right. He had used his abilties two weeks ago, to scare off a pair of potential thieves who had been casing that little jewelry store down the street from his apartment, the owner, Mr. Farhi, had just gone through a nasty divorce and had very little keeping him going. Klaus hadn’t wanted him to lose his business so he had kept the place going and kept people from breaking in. That had probably been how Father had found him, he had dipped into the substantial savings account that Reginald had set up for each of them and had bought a very expensive set of rings. Seven of them. One for each of his siblings. They were each made for the person who would wear them, Number One’s ring was gold and had an engraving of a space ship on it. There was also a ruby that the ship was headed towards that signified Mars. Number Two’s ring was also gold, a knife engraved into it with two diamonds embedded in the handle. Number Three’s ring was more intricate, gold and silver woven together with an emerald centerpiece. His own ring had been black tungsten with gold outline of their masks engraved on the inside. Number Five’s ring was gold like most the others, two opals set into it where it started to curve down the sides. Number Six’s ring was special, white gold and yellow gold twined together like tentacles of a Kraken. Number Seven was the only one who had her ring, she had helped him pick it out so it was a simple gold band with a small diamond set into it. They had joked that it was her engagement ring. Everyone else’s rings were sitting in his duffle bag, he had picked them up on his way to the train station when he was coming here.

“Number Four?” Number Five’s voice broke through his thoughts and he lifted his head to look at them

“Sorry, too busy not giving a shit. What was that?” He said and Number One crossed his arms across his chest

“You’re not allowed to leave this house for the next eight days.” Number One said and Number Five scoffed

“You guys couldn’t stop me last time. What thinks you can keep me here this time?” He said pushing to his feet.

“Its for your own good.” Number Five said and Klaus frowned

“Why? Because you say so? I don’t have time for this shit, I only took three days off.” Klaus said, eyes flickering to each person. Everyone but Vanya and Number Two looked pissed at him. Number Two was eyeing him warily and Vanya looked worried

“It’s for your own good.” Klaus mimicked angrily. He stood, brushed off his dark jeans and stalked back into the house. Of course, Number Five flashed so that he was walking beside him.

“You don’t understand. We’re just trying to help.” Number Five said and Klaus ignored him. He headed upstairs, shoved his shit into his bag and started towards the door. He was walking down the stairs when the lock on the front door shot towards them and clattered on the marble floor.

“That doesn’t seem right.” Klaus said as he carefully started backing up the stairs. Two people in masks burst through the door and Number Five grabbed Klaus and teleported them to the attic

“Stay here.” Number Five ordered before he rushed from the room shouting for the others. Klaus slumped into the corner, closing his eyes and breathing softly so that he could hear everything that was going on. He listened as the others fought and then everything went quiet. A set of footsteps seemed to get closer but Klaus couldn’t seem to find it in himself to care if it was one of his siblings or someone else. He had used to much energy after working a triple shift and no sleep. His body was shutting down, he realized.

“Klaus?” Ben, sweet Ben was the one to find him it seemed.

Then there was only darkness.


	3. and you tell me that we can never go back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three is here. It's very Klaus and Ben centric with a little bit of Five and the others. I had a little bit of trouble figuring out some logistics of Klaus' past (which we get some answers on in this chapter).

Klaus woke to machines beeping quietly. Had he fallen asleep in someone’s room? His brain was fuzzy and he blinked his eyes open to see the tiled roof of a hospital.

“Number Four?” He heard Number Six say softly. Klaus sighed. He probably should start to refer to them by their names now. No doubt they had checked him in under Klaus Hargreeves. Slowly he opened his eyes to find everyone sitting somewhere in the room. Five was sleeping curled up in the corner, a mannequin in his arms. It seemed Klaus had been right about the kid needing therapy. Hell only knew what Five had been through if he knew the end of the world was coming. Number Two, Diego he reminded himself, was sitting in a chair by the door, a knife in his lap and a phone in his hands. Luther and Allison were leaning against each other talking quietly. Vanya and Ben were sitting on either side of him

“What hospital am I in?” Klaus asked, his mouth feeling like someone had sucked all the saliva out of it.

“Uh…” Ben said awkwardly

“I had them take you to New Amsterdam. We said you were attending the funeral as a friend of mine and collapsed. Your identity is still intact.” Vanya cut in. Klaus groaned.

“Pass me my chart bitte?” He asked making grabby hands. Vanya did as he requested and passed him the metal binder that hung at the end of his bed. Humming happily he flipped through the papers.

“Alright, I can work with malnutrition. Extra vitamins and all that. Boost shakes too. Maybe an apple instead of a poptart for breakfast.” Klaus said stroking his wispy goatee and planning on what he was going to say.

“You’re awfully chipper for someone who passed out.” Diego said and Klaus shrugged

“Not the first time I’ve been hospitalized for not eating right. There was one time at the end of my last year of med school that I drank three entire bottles of whiskey on an empty stomach to celebrate actually making it through finals and had to get hospitalized in case it messed up my liver. That wasn’t fun.” Klaus said earning a swat from Vanya

“I sat by your bed for three days while they monitored you for liver failure. You promised me you’d never do this sort of shit again.” She said and Klaus sighed

“I’m fine Vanya. Low blood sugar. Malnutrition. They are only small speedbumps. They’re not going to slow me down.” Klaus said and Vanya stroked through his hair. There was a knock on the door and Klaus saw Sherry there.

“Hey there Doctor Fischer. How are we feeling today?” She said with a grin

“Still wondering why there’s a famous actress in my room but hey, I’ll take that hallucination over the usual ones.” Klaus said and Sherry laughed.

“I assure you, you’re not hallucinating. Everyone was worried that you collapsed at the funeral. I didn’t know you knew all these people.” Sherry said coming over to check his vitals.

“I don’t. Vanya was the reason I went. She wasn’t sure if she could stand to go to the funeral without a bit of back up.” Klaus lied. He was a very good liar. Sherry sighed

“Well you seem to be back to normal and I’m sure you’ve come up with some sort of plan to keep this from happening again. Knowing you, you’ll be back to work tomorrow whether I tell you to rest or not.” Sherry said and Klaus laughed.

“Damn right. How’s Lu, she hanging in there with the kids.” Klaus asked and Sherry chuckled

“She has them making you cards. Apparently you are the most popular doctor on the psych floor.” She said cheerfully.

“Good. Now, you know what I want Sherry. Stop stalling.” He said sitting up and holding his hand out. She passed over a wad of papers

“I really wish you’d stay in longer.” She said with mild disappointment. Klaus shrugged

“Life stops for no one. Not even the most popular doctor on the psych floor.” Klaus said scribbling down information in the correct spots and then signing the papers with a flourish.

“There. Now I’m free. Everyone out.” He said knowing that if he tried to get out of the bed to get dressed, he would be giving everyone a free show of his tattoos and scars. Everyone stood except for Five who was still asleep. When Diego went to pick him up Klaus shooed him away

“Leave him. He’s fine.” Klaus said and Sherry shut the door. Klaus hopped up and grabbed his clothes. He got dressed at a sedated pace. Someone, probably Vanya, had grabbed his duffel bag and sat it in the corner by Five. Klaus ruffled through it to make sure everything was there, including Father’s journal, and popped an extra Adderall. Once he was situated and was ready to go, he crouched down and shook Five awake.

“Hey, kid. Come on, time to wake up.” He said gently. Five mumbled something to the mannequin and blearily opened his eye.

“Four?” Five muttered rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Yeah, mind teleporting me to the elevators? I really don’t want to deal with the others right now.” He said shifting back onto the balls of his feet. Five yawned and nodded

“Okay. Why though?” He asked as they both stood. Klaus shrugged

“I want to keep my life here the same. The more I interact with them the more I miss them.” Klaus said and Five gave him a weird look.

“If you miss them why don’t you try and reconnect? Like you did with Vanya.” Five asked right before teleporting them to the elevators. Klaus peered around the corner to make sure no one had noticed. Everyone was standing not to far from where he was now, talking to each other. Klaus felt a longing to bop over and jump into the conversations with some sort of silly remark. He stuffed the feeling down, knowing that he had made his choice a long time ago.

He wasn’t anyone special. He was ordinary. Seeing ghosts was cool but he knew he would never have gotten the control he had now if he had stayed. He would have been weak.

He would have been useless.

The elevator arrived and he stepped inside leaving Five there watching him

“Running isn’t always the answer.” Five said. Klaus gave him a soft smile

“Running isn’t what I’m trying to do.” He said before the elevator doors closed. He sent Sherry a text saying that he was headed out and that she shouldn’t worry about him. He immediately got a text back asking how he got out of the room without her noticing and he laughed and replied that the kid had gotten him out. Tucking his phone into his pocket as the elevator reached the first floor, he nodded to the usual janitorial staff who all said hello. Klaus always made a point to say hello to everyone. He never knew who was having a bad day. It was something he wished people had done for him. He was just leaving the hospital when someone grabbed his shoulder.

“Klaus.” A deep voice rumbled from behind him. Klaus froze and slowly turned to see Eric standing there. Eric was a paramedic, a paramedic that Klaus had dated for close to five years during his undergrad and part of med school. It hadn’t been pretty. Klaus had been a mess when he had met Eric, only a few years sober and struggling to keep the momentum going. Eric had given Klaus a way to control the ghosts with abuse. Instead of reaching for pills to keep himself from going crazy, Klaus had pressed on the bruises that Eric gave and relished in the pain.

“What are you doing here?” Klaus said knowing that while Eric would never do anything in front of others there was nothing stopping him from dragging Klaus off to some room. Klaus had never told anyone about the abuse. He had only stopped when Eric had nearly killed him. Landing him in the hospital and told everyone that he was mugged.

“I was the one who brought you here. I was worried. You stopped responding to my texts and some woman answered when I called saying she didn’t know you. Did you change your number?” Eric said, a hand coming up to grip Klaus’ arm tightly. Klaus flinched at the pain and Eric grinned

“Uh, yeah, broke my phone. Look Eric I have to go.” Klaus said trying to pull away. Eric didn’t let him go though, instead wrapped his other arm around Klaus’ boney shoulders and leading him out the door

“It hurt my feelings when I came home that day to find all your stuff gone. I was so worried that you had gotten hurt.” Eric said in a fake concerned voice. Klaus flinched.

“I’m fine Eric. I just didn’t think the two of us was going to work. You didn’t like the ghosts and I couldn’t get rid of them all for you.” Klaus said following along docilely. Eric opened his mouth to say something but a shout from behind stopped him

“Klaus!” Ben. Klaus tensed and Eric laughed

“So your freaks of siblings found you again. I wonder what you told them when they saw the scars. What sort of story you came up with for the beautiful carvings I gave you? The reminders that you are worthless, weak, and that you do not deserve love. You don’t know what it is after all.” Eric whispered into Klaus’ ear. Klaus was shaking by the end of it, his frame doing a  whole-body tremble in the man’s arms

“It was good seeing you again Klaus. We should really go to dinner some time.” Eric said louder as he let Klaus go. Klaus watched him jog across the street and disappear around a corner.

“Klaus?” Ben asked and Klaus turned to him barely able to collect himself

“Yeah?” Klaus said and then mentally slapped himself for how broken his voice was. Ben looked at him concerned and Klaus couldn’t find it in himself to try and get it together.

“Are you okay?” Ben asked and Klaus nodded.

“Yeah, headed home.” He said and Ben frowned

“Mind if I come with you?” He asked then quickly added, “I’ve missed you.” Klaus sighed

“Yeah, come on. We’re taking the subway.” He said turning and starting to walk towards the subway station. A hand slipped into his, fingers twining with his and Klaus felt himself relax slightly. He would be safe with Ben. Ben didn’t care that Klaus could never love him, he only wanted to be friends. To be siblings. Whatever emotion that Klaus had twisted and called love would never grow to be more than a feeling.

 

Ben peered around the small studio apartment that Klaus owned. In the corner was a large bed, sheets and blankets pushed down to the end as if the person sleeping had been hot. It was rather warm in the apartment. The bed was by a large window that the glass of was frosted so that one couldn’t see in or out but was large enough that it no doubt filled the apartment with light. In the corner across from the bed but still on the other side of the room from the door was what looked like a mini art studio. There was several canvases that caught Ben’s attention. Striding over while Klaus poked through the fridge for food he picked one up. It was of him sleeping in his mask and uniform. He’d probably fallen asleep like this after many missions, exhausted from using his abilities

“Who painted this?” He asked and Klaus smiled softly

“One of my ghost friends. She’s an avid painter and often uses my memories to get inspiration. I indulge her.” Klaus said passing Ben a wad of take out menus.

“Unsurprisingly, there is nothing edible in the fridge. Pick somewhere to eat.” Klaus said and Ben flipped through the fliers until he reached a Chinese place that looked like it had been ordered from many times. The paper was worn, stained, and ripped. He pulled it out and carried it over to Klaus who laughed

“Alright I’ll take a number seven, pick something and I’ll order.” Klaus said and Ben scanned the flier.

“The General Tsou’s chicken sounds good.” Ben said and Klaus nodded

“It’s spicy. I didn’t think you liked spicy food.” Klaus said pulling his phone out. Ben gave a noncommittal shrug. He didn’t want to admit that he ate spicy food because Klaus had loved it. He remembered when Diego had dared Klaus to eat a whole bottle of hot sauce and Klaus had. Ben had thought he was going to die from how red his face had been after but Klaus had only held his hand out for his ten dollars. Then he had taken Ben out for ice cream and paid for it with the money he’d won. Looking around Ben absentmindedly rifled through the books on the shelves and picked up the dirty clothes that were littered across the wooden floors. Klaus seemed to know the owners of the restaurant, asking them about their sons and if their grandmother was doing well. The conversation ended and Klaus started helping Ben collect the dirty laundry

“You seem to be doing well.” Ben said, trying to keep his hurt emotions out of his voice. Klaus shrugged

“I have good days and bad days. Today was definitely a bad day but I keep telling myself that tomorrow will be better.” Klaus said and Ben nodded

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Ben said but couldn’t say more around the lump in his throat. Klaus seemed to realize something was wrong, he straightened up and pulled Ben into a hug. Ben was maybe an inch taller and wrapped his arms around Klaus.

“I’m here, I’m okay and you now know where I live so you can visit any time.” Klaus said and Ben nodded, tears starting to stream down his face. Klaus carefully led him over to the bed and laid out on it with Ben on top of him. Ben tucked his head into Klaus’ neck, breathing in the scent that was solely Klaus.

“My therapists, and I’ve had many, all say that I can’t beat myself up over my guilt. That I did what I had to do to survive. I don’t quite believe them. It’s hard to think about you guys because I feel like I should have done something to get you all out too. That I was a coward who ran.” Klaus said. Ben shifted so that he could speak without being muffled

“Do you still see a therapist?” He asked and Klaus gave a hum

“Yeah, every Tuesday and Friday. Usually during my lunch break. Her name is Miss Nowak, she’s Polish. We do an exchange of information most of the time. She tells me stories about her mother who was a holocaust survivor and I tell her about our childhood. It’s more comfortable that way.” Klaus said. Ben gave his own hum and let his eyes drift shut. It had been a long day and was now closer to sunrise of the next. He felt Klaus shift out from underneath him and then voices but didn’t feel the need to really listen.

“Hey, come on, wake up.” Klaus said lightly shaking Ben. Ben opened his eyes and Klaus grinned

“Food’s here. Grab some chopsticks or a fork.” Klaus said dropping a carton onto the nightstand. He climbed over Ben and settle down with his own food. Ben shifted up and began to eat. The food was delicious, Ben found himself inhaling it. Klaus wasn’t much better, shoving food into his mouth and barely swallowing between bites. Once the food was gone Klaus slid down

“I’m going to sleep. You can stay if you want.” Klaus said flipping a light switch that bathed the room in darkness. Ben contemplated his options before settling down beside Klaus.

“Night Ghost Boy.” Ben said and heard Klaus chuckle

“Night Horror Show.” Klaus said, his voice muffled by the pillow his face was buried in. Ben could faintly see his outline in the light from the street. He let his eyes shut and drifted off, not even waking when Klaus wrapped around him.


	4. Oh and, heavens, when you looked at me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, hi guys. There's a really important announcement that I have to make about this story. It might end in a threesome between Klaus/Ben/Diego. I've been playing with the idea because let's admit, Diego isn't good at feelings but clearly feels something for Klaus (shown way more in this chapter), Klaus looked up to Diego when they were kids, and Klaus and Ben is a cinnamon bun wrapped in bacon. I hope that if you do not like that idea that you do not bash my story but instead leave quietly. If that is something your interested please feel free to get all excited with me. This will be the first time I write a threesome so I'm looking forward to the challenge.
> 
> When you are reading the Diego bit I think the song 'Mary' by Big Thief sets the mood really nicely.

Ben woke to silence which was odd. Usually he woke to his neighbors fighting or the cat two down giving off it’s best impression of nails on a chalkboard. Or he woke in a cold sweat from dreams of Number Four’s demise. Today he woke to nothing. Sitting up he looked around. This wasn’t his apartment and the previous day’s events came sliding back into place. Number Four’s return as Klaus, Five’s return from the future (?), Klaus’ apparent control over his own abilities which had shocked everyone, the attack on the house which had caused quite a lot of damage, Klaus passing out, the trip to the hospital, and then going to Klaus’ apartment. Flopping back down, Ben shuffled through his pockets looking for his phone only for it not to be there. Glancing over at the bedside table he saw it sitting there.

“At least I didn’t lose it.” He muttered picking it up and checking it for any messages. There were two, both from unknown numbers

**From (233) 412-8091 [7:34am]: It’s Klaus. emergency happened at work & I was needed. srry 2 leave b4 u woke. there’s cereal in the cabinet and poptarts**

**From (233)412-8091 [10:14am]: I caught a smll break and wanted 2 make sure ur okay. if u want u can meet me at the hosp.**

Ben saved the number into his contacts before checking his watch. It was ten thirty so he climbed out of bed and rustled around in Klaus’ drawers for a new shirt. The style was different then he was used to, there were only a few crop tops, one skirt and three jackets with fur hung in the closet. Most of the drawers were filled with tee-shirts with graphic art on them or button ups. There was a green jean vest with lots of pockets tucked away in the drawers and when Ben pulled it out and flipped it over, he saw that someone had sewn a shit ton of patches on the back. One in particular caught his interest, it was his eldritch monster. Ben remembered when that set of patches hit the stores, it had embarrassed him to know that they had made a patch of his monster. Yet Klaus had the patch sew onto what seemed like a well-loved piece of clothing. Tucking the vest back into the drawer he grabbed a slate grey button up and pulled it on. He pulled his leather jacket on over it and grabbed a strawberry poptart out of the cabinet. Making sure the door was locked behind him, Ben headed out to his own apartment where his job would no doubt be waiting for him. He pulled out his phone and text Klaus back

**To Klaus [10:38am]: I have to go to work as well. Wanna meet up for lunch?** **;)**

Ben tucked his phone back into his pocket and hailed down a taxi. On the drive back to his apartment his phone buzzed

**From 001 [10:42am]: family meeting called. Get over here**

Ben groaned but ignored Luther’s text instead he tucked his phone back into his pocket and watched the world outside the taxi. He paid the taxi driver when they arrived and headed up to his third-floor apartment. Ghost was waiting for him, meowing loudly as he weaved around Ben’s legs. Ben scooped the Siamese cat up and went to open a can of food for his feline friend. Once Ghost was happily eating, Ben headed to the closed door where his art studio was. He left the door open as he began to sketch out his newest panel for his comic.

 

Klaus frowned when he checked his phone again at two in the afternoon. He had missed it pinging when both Vanya and Ben had text him. Vanya had been telling him that there had been a family meeting and also that she wanted to have an extra session this week to deal with all the shit that was going on. Ben had asked to go to lunch. Klaus wanted to ask Ben if he still wanted to go to lunch. He hadn’t realized until he woke up that morning how much he had missed the other. Ben had been warm with his arms wrapped around Klaus’ waist, Klaus’ own arms had been wrapped around Ben as well, and their legs tangled up in each other’s. Ben hadn’t woken when Klaus had left the bed nor when he had left to deal with the mess that had happened. It would no doubt be on the television, mass shooting at an office building. Lots of people needing someone to talk to. Prescription for sleeping pills to pass out. It was a lot.

Klaus just wanted to sleep. Instead of texting anyone back he simply got back to work.

 

Diego couldn’t shake the feelings of guilt. He hadn’t known how much Number Four, Klaus, would have taken that conversation to heart. Diego had been jealous; the junkie had always been more open about his feelings. Had always had an easier time expressing them and maybe Diego had even been a little afraid that Klaus and Ben would have run off together leaving him behind with Number One, Number Three and Number Five.

Their father’s perfect children.

Diego knew that what he had done was probably the worst thing he had ever done. Telling Klaus that he was incapable of love had been cruel, belittling the boy’s feelings and making him think that what he was feeling was something twisted and warped. He could see now that it had had long lasting effects on the other man’s psyche. There was no excuse for leaving scars like that. Sure, they had been children and back then everything had been a competition but he knew he shouldn’t have said it. That there were lines that were not made to be crossed and that he had also crossed one.

He punched the bag again making it swing dangerously. He could still picture Klaus’ face when he had said those words to him. The tears streaming down soft cheeks, eyes wide and beautiful. Maybe that was why he had said it. Klaus was beautiful to him. He was accomplished too, Diego had googled him when they had been in the hospital waiting for him to wake up. He was living a normal life and Diego was proud of him. His phone buzzed on the floor beside the water bottle and Diego stopped and picked both items up. Taking a long drain from the bottle he checked to see who had text him

**From Asshole [10:43am]: Family meeting. Get to the house.**

Diego scoffed and put the phone down. He took one last pull from the water bottle and set it back down too. Returning to the punching bag he started his workout back up. He was blissfully unaware of how much time passed, focused on what he knew. Pain. Pain on others and pain on himself.

“Working up a sweat? What’s the occasion?” A familiar voice asked from behind him. Diego rolled his eyes but smiled and turned to see Eudora Patch standing there.

“My brother’s back. Kinda. Not sure if he’s going to stick around.” Diego said turning back to the punching bag. Eudora came around so that he could still see her

“Which one. Five or Four?” She asked and he gave the bag two hard punches

“Both.” He said and she took a step in front of the bag

“Seriously? They give you answers on where they’ve been?” She asked passing him a towel. He took it and wiped himself down knowing that she wasn’t going to let him keep punching the bag.

“Five. Five looks like he did when he left. He was time traveling apparently. Four is all grown up and a doctor. Normal life I guess.” Diego said grabbing his phone and leading Eudora away from the bag so someone else could use it. They started towards the basement where his apartment was

“Wow. That sounds good.” She said and he shrugged

“He doesn’t want anything to do with us. With me. Hell, he made it very clear that he was only there for Vanya. Apparently, he’s been hanging out with her without wanting to include the rest of us.” Diego said with a self-deprecating laugh. Eudora sighed

“Think about this from his point of view. He hasn’t seen any of you in years. You’re all strangers to him. He’s probably watched every fight you had until the Academy was disbanded. Standing on the sidelines without the ability to do anything to help. He probably understood Vanya.” She said and Diego shook his head

“We were awful to him. Me most of all. I told him when we were eleven that he was incapable of love. Made him think that love was unattainable for him. And the worst part is that he believed me. What I said twisted him up.” Diego said and Eudora frowned.

“Diego. Why? I thought…” She said before trailing off. He knew what she was thinking about. That one time they had tried to have sex. He hadn’t been able to get it up. It had been embarrassing when he had had to tell her that the only person he had ever loved had been his brother who had taken off into the night.

“I did, do. He was in love with Ben. I was jealous.” Diego said and Eudora carefully wrapped her arms around him.

“What’s his name now. I’m assuming he didn’t keep going by Number Four.” Eudora said. Diego pulled out of her embrace and slumped down onto the bed.

“Klaus. Klaus Fischer.” He said. He didn’t notice her leaving. Didn’t notice the sun setting through the basement windows. His mind was set in a loop of the way Four had always look at him when they were kids. Before Diego had ruined the other. Eyes wide with wonder, grin that split his face. The way he had made Diego feel good and whole and wanted. Number Four had always been the best of them and they had twisted him into something dark because they could not stand the light. Klaus had been the best of them.

Then he had gotten away and took his light with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you made it to the end of this chapter which means you either didn't read the beginning note and got sideswiped or you are perfectly okay with my change in pairing.


	5. And I know that someday soon I'll see you but now you're out of sight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter you'll get for the night. I think. It's shorter than most the other chapter but a lot happens in it. Also, the title of this chapter comes from the same song as the last chapter's. It is a good song. Play it with this chapter too.

Klaus had been working in his office when a call came through on his hospital line. He groaned before grabbing the phone and checking where it was coming from. Unsurprisingly, the ER, he’d had a lot of calls from there today. Way too many calls.

“Yeah?” He asked, cradling the phone between his ear and his shoulder so he could continue to do the paperwork that had accumulated through the day.

“We’ve got a situation in the ER. Kid and his brother came in, kid’s fine but won’t let us treat his brother.” Quinn’s voice was tired. Klaus checked his fitbit and saw that it was close to one in the morning. What the hell was going on now. There shouldn’t have been any more stragglers from this morning’s incident, that should have been cleared up hours ago and whoever was here with that was probably lying to get narcotics. It could be a junkie, he was often called to assess those when he worked the night shift. Usually he would admit them, he knew most would stay sober long enough to get out before looking for their next fix. Some would actually try to stay clean though whether because of something Klaus said or because they found support somewhere else in their lives.

“Yeah, I’ll be down in two minutes.” He said before hanging up. He stood and stretched before leaving his small office and heading to the elevators. When he reached the ER it was a madhouse. The ER was always a madhouse but it seemed that today there hadn’t been any slowing. Between the shooting this morning and whatever had happened now Klaus didn’t think the ER had ever been quite so hectic. He made his way to the desk where Ruth was doing something on the computer.

“Hey Ruthie, where’s Quinn’s kid?” Klaus asked dropping his elbows onto the counter. Ruth, without looking at him, pointed to where there was a curtain drawn around a bed before returning her full attention to the computer. Klaus wasn’t bothered by the dismissal. Ruth didn’t care for him, he thought she was reminded of her brother who had been a junkie when she looked at him. It wasn’t a secret that he was a recovering addict, the entire psych wing used him as a poster boy for how far one could go if one tried.

“They took his brother to surgery already.” Ruth said and Klaus sighed. He walked over and slipped past the curtain to find Five sitting there covered in blood. His uniform jacket was draped over the chair but he was sitting on the floor. Klaus felt his heart drop

“Oh fuck.” He breathed. Five looked up from the blood that stained his fingers

“Please Klaus. Can you see him?” Five asked and Klaus carefully sat down on the cold tile floor

“Not yet. Who should I be looking for?” Klaus asked and Five seemed to look past him

“Diego. We…we were following a lead on the people who broke in looking for you. They shot him. A lot.” Five said. Klaus nodded slowly and glanced around. There. Sitting in the corner of the cubicle looking at his own hands was a blurry Diego.

Slowly becoming clearer.

“Okay. I see him but he’s not dead yet. Does anyone else know about this?” Klaus said returning his attention to his living brother. Five shook his head and Klaus sighed.

“My cell is in my office. I’m guessing you don’t have a phone yet.” Klaus said. Five swallowed thickly and Klaus pulled him into a hug. Five tensed at the contact but hesitantly wrapped his arms around Klaus’ shoulders.

“I’m scared.” Five whispered, his voice barely audible. Klaus wasn’t sure what to say. This was his family not some stranger. It was his brother covered in blood sitting on the floor of the ER not some child that he didn’t know.

“Why are they after me? I’m not a superhero. I got out of that business.” Klaus asked and Five sighed. He pulled away from Klaus and started to pick the dried blood from his nails.

“I think Vanya has something to do with the apocalypse. And you giving her therapy makes the apocalypse less likely to happen. They want to get rid of something you talk to her about in therapy this week so that the apocalypse will happen. At least, that’s my hypothesis.” Five said and Klaus frowned

“Let me get this straight. These people _want_ the world to end? Are they nuts?” Klaus said and Five let out a mirthless chuckle

“Yeah. And I worked for them.” Five admitted. Klaus frowned

“I think you should tell me about what happened to you. What happened to your mannequin friend?” Klaus said and Five gave him a look that said he thought Klaus was crazy. Klaus gave him a smile

“It’ll help the time pass and keep me from focusing on Diego in the corner.” Klaus said. Five sighed

“Can we do this somewhere else? I don’t want to do this where others can overhear.” Five said. Klaus climbed to his feet and held his hand out for Five.

“I know just the place. But first, we stop by my office for my phone.” He said and Five took his hand.

 

_Diego watched Number Four sit and stare at nothing._

_“What’s going on in that brain of yours?” He asked and Number Four jumped. Four had been jumpier of late, ever since his last special training mission. Diego didn’t want to ask what happened. He didn’t want to know what horror his brother had been put through. Four was so sweet, so innocent in what their father was doing to them. He was always moving, always talking. Diego thought it would drive him nuts if it wasn’t so comforting._

_“Nothing.” Four said with a small sniff. Diego’s brow furrowed_

_“What’s wrong?” He asked coming to sit beside his brother on the stairs, wrapping one arm around the smaller boy and pulling him close. Four leaned into the touch and Diego took pride in that. That someone wanted him to touch them._

_“Luther yelled at me again. I didn’t mean to break the stupid record, I got surprised when he barged in and dropped it. It was an accident.” Four said with another sniff._

_“Did he hurt you?” Diego asked and Four shook his head quickly_

_“NO! He just yelled a lot. Then Three came in and told me that I was always breaking shit and how stupid I was. She didn’t say that word but she said the word that means I don’t do what’s responsible…shit I don’t know how to say it.” Four said and Diego frowned_

_“Irresponsible?” He asked and Four nodded_

_“Yeah. I’m tired of everyone ragging on me. I didn’t mean to.” He said and Diego rubbed his back._

_“Why weren’t you with Six?” He asked and Four sighed_

_“He’s doing an experiment with Five. I was told that I would only mess it up and that I wasn’t wanted.” Four said and the words sounded so much like Five. Diego stood and pulled his brother up with him_

_“Come on, I know what will cheer you up.” He said and Four gave him a quizzical look. Diego smiled, beamed really_

_“Ice cream. Let’s go ask mom if we can have a banana split.” Diego said and Four’s eyes widened. Diego didn’t really like banana spits but they were Four’s favorite. He would eat a banana spit every night if it meant Four looked at him the way he was now. Eyes full of happiness and a grin that outshone the sun. Diego could get lost in Four’s happiness._

_“Yeah!” Four crowed and raced off towards the kitchen. Diego suddenly became aware that this was just a dream, a memory. One of the few good one’s he had with Four, Klaus. They had stuffed themselves full of ice cream and gotten fussed at by Pogo for ruining their dinner. Later that night Klaus had come into Diego’s room and admitted that he wanted to know what love was. Diego had destroyed Klaus that night. The memory faded into nothingness and Diego felt as if he was afloat in an ocean of black._

_He wasn’t sure if he wanted to swim or let himself sink under the waves._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm an evil author. There's no need to tell me such, I already know.  
> Come say hi to me on Tumblr at TwistedMetalTrees or StarsAlignedinMisery


	6. And all the things that you never ever told me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say, Happy Birthday to my sister. She turns 24 today. I know she's not reading this because she only reads fluffy or funny fics but it's still her birthday and I wanted to say it.

Klaus sat beside Five in the theater overlooking Diego’s operation. Five had just gotten done telling him about the hell he had been through and while Klaus really thought Five could use a huge amount of therapy to deal with the shit that he’d gone through he also knew not to overextend himself. Between the regular hospital problems, doing Vanya’s therapy, and trying to make sure that he didn’t pass out again Klaus was overwhelmed.

“Did you know I wanted to be a surgeon?” He asked after a few to many beats of silence. Five let out a watery laugh

“Really? What stopped you?” He asked and Klaus looked down at his hands

“My tremors. I don’t have hands that are steady enough. It wasn’t the drugs oddly enough. Well, it was drugs but not the illegal kind. When I showed signs of psychosis as a teenager, they put me on Lithium and Latuda. Both of those have the unfortunate side effect of causing tremors. I never recovered.” Klaus said with a shrug. Five let out a low whistle

“I always wondered why you went into psychology. It’s not what I would have expected from you.” Five said and Klaus laughed

“I doubt anyone thought I would be anything but a junkie. There was points in my life where _I_ thought I wouldn’t be anything but a junkie.” Klaus admitted. The monitor that had been slowly beeping out Diego’s heartrate started to scream and Klaus jumped to his feet. Five was right behind him, rushing to the glass to watch as the surgeons tried to save their brother. Klaus turned to where Diego’s once blurry form had been standing in the corner. He was completely visible now but only to Klaus’ eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Klaus said softly to the ghost. Diego looked horrorstruck.

“What happened?” He asked, his voice rough like he had spent too long screaming. Klaus glanced at Five who was staring blankly down at where the surgeons were scrambling

“You’re dead.” He said blankly.

“Oh.” Diego said and Klaus thought he was taking this quite well. His chest was still oozing blood but Klaus would be able to walk him through the steps of cleaning up his appearance later. When it was just the two of them.

“Clear!” Someone below shouted and Diego’s ghostly form shuttered in and out of focus.

“Don’t fight it Diego. Let it go.” Klaus said firmly. Diego looked up at him, eyes wide and vulnerable

“But it hurts.” He said and suddenly his form shifted until he was thirteen again. Klaus took a menacing step forward

“Pain means you’re alive.” He snapped.

“Clear!” Someone shouted again and the Diego in front of him shuttered again before fading completely. Klaus let out a shaky laugh and collapsed onto the bench.

“Is he?” Five asked and Klaus grinned

“He’ll live.” He said confidently. If there was one thing Klaus was an expert on it was death and those who were dying. Diego would live.

“Do you still love him?” Five asked and Klaus narrowed his eyes.

“You were high as a kite when you told me and Ben that you would love to get into both Ben and Diego’s pants. You passed out two seconds later and I promised Ben that I would never mention it to you but seriously, do you love Diego?” Five said sounding exasperated. Klaus frowned.

“I don’t know what love is.” He said. He parroted those words so often. He had dreams about them and what he’d done while using them as an excuse

“What happened to you Klaus?” Five asked and Klaus shrugged.

“I fell in love with two people I could never have. My brothers. When I left home, I went from one bad relationship to the next. College was dominated by a really bad relationship. I swore I would never love again after Eric. Made the words Diego said to me my mantra to keep myself from letting anyone try. I thought I would be better off alone.” Klaus said. The words were like ash on his tongue and yet felt like lead at the same time. Somehow, he knew Five would understand the self-flagellation the best. He had probably had his fair share of it when he had been alone.

“Do you think you could try to love them again if the world doesn’t end?” Five asked sitting down beside Klaus. Klaus didn’t answer right away. Instead choosing to watch the doctors and the nurses down below finish removing the bullets from Diego

“I don’t think it really matters. I would have to choose one and I don’t think I ever could.” Klaus said. Five let the theater fall into silence. The surgeon doing the surgery turned away from Diego to give them a thumbs up

“What does that mean?” Five asked and Klaus let a good smile slip onto his face

“It means they got it all. He’ll be fine. He’ll go to recovery now and they’ll take him to a room later.” Klaus said standing and stretching. He checked his Fitbit for the time. 4:26am. It had been a long day.

“What now?” Five asked and Klaus sighed. He’d texted Ben but received no answer. He didn’t have a number for anyone else

“I’ll take you home with me. We’ll get you cleaned up and into some fresh clothes. Then you’ll sleep some and when it hits seven, I’ll bring you back to be with him.” Klaus said grabbing Five by his shoulders and steering him out of the theater. Five didn’t fight him, letting him lead the boy out of the hospital and into the subway. Five fell asleep on the train and Klaus had carefully picked him up when they reached their stop. Carrying him through the turnstiles had been tricky but luckily, he had done it without waking Five. He carried him into his apartment and set him on the bed before heading into the bathroom to get a bath running. Once the bath was full, he returned and gently shook Five awake.

“Do you need help bathing? I don’t want you to drown.” Klaus said as Five eyed him sleepily. Five shrugged and then shook his head

“No, I think I’ll be alright.” He said hesitantly. Klaus gave him a comforting smile

“Alright.” He said. Five had a lot of blood on his clothes and arms. He hadn’t done much at the hospital to wash it off either. Klaus dug through his drawers for his smallest clothes. They would still be to big on Five but if he shrunk them in the dryer while Five was in the bath they should be good. He headed to the basement and tossed the shirt and jeans into the dryer. While it was rumbling he sunk down the floor.

Diego had died.

Klaus let out a little sob. Then another. He curled in on himself, forehead touching the cold concrete floor, and let himself grieve. Sob tore through his body in waves as he cried and cried. He had almost lost a brother again. He’d almost lost Diego. A hand wrapped around the back of his neck, rubbing along his spine in a comforting manner and Klaus raised his head high enough to see Dave

“Hey.” Dave said with a soft smile. Klaus threw himself at the ghost, curling up in the older man’s lap and clinging to his shirt like a lifeline

“Oh god I almost lost him.” Klaus gasped and Dave held him. Dave held him as his tears of sadness and grief turned to soft hiccups and then even when he was just numb.

“We should go back upstairs.” Dave said and Klaus nodded. He climbed out of the ghost’s lap and pulled the dryer open to retrieve the clothes. They would still be a little big on Five but they would fit better now than they would have before. Dave trailed after Klaus as he headed back to the apartment. Klaus expected Five to be either still in the bath or fast asleep and wasn’t surprised to find Five face down on the bed with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Klaus pulled the blankets out from underneath the boy and carefully covered him. Heading over to his desk he flicked on the small desk lamp and shut the rest of the lights off in the apartment. Pulling a composition notebook out of the top drawer he flipped it open to a fresh page.

**Diego,**

**You died today and I bullied you back into living.**

He wrote the letter and then flipped through the rest of the journal. Letters to his family, some long, some no more than a few lines. He had done this since he had first gotten into therapy, it had been a coping mechanism that his second therapist had suggested. There were three boxes of similar notebooks in the closet.

One day he’d let the others read them. Klaus groaned softly as he stood, his body protesting his wakefulness. Instead of going to bed like he knew he should, he pulled his duffel bag over and pulled all his files out. A black box fell out as well and Klaus paused before picking it up. With a quick glance to make sure Five was still asleep he opened the box and plucked out the ring he had made for Diego. Running his fingers over the engraving he wondered not for the first time what would have happened if he had stayed.

He didn’t regret leaving. He regretted not coming home sooner.

 

Diego woke to a floaty sensation. Like sitting in water. Then he heard Eudora’s voice, hissing and angry at someone. Fuck, had he gotten arrested again? That would suck because he didn’t even remember why he’d been arrested. Letting out a soft noise when his eyelids protested opening he felt a hand take his

“Hey D?” Eudora’s voice said and Diego managed to get his eyes open. She looked like she hadn’t slept in a while

“Hey.” He said before realizing he was in a hospital, “What happened?” He asked and it felt like his tongue was it’s own separate entity entirely out of his control. Eudora gave him a soft smile and squeezed his hand

“You were shot dumbass. Nine bullets. You coded on the table and almost didn’t come back.” She said and he closed his eyes to try and remember anything.

“Five, Five was with me. Is he okay?” Diego said opening them again. Eudora looked worried

“A doctor here took him home after they knew your surgery went well. I’m assuming they are fine. I’m sure he’ll be here to visit.” She said before checking her watch

“It’s almost seven and I have a shift to get to.” She said. Diego frowned. How had she known he had gotten shot if she hadn’t been on shift. When he voiced the question, she gave him a quirk of the lips that said she was amused

“I listened to a police scanner.” She said and he laughed. She was out the door and Diego let himself settle back to a light doze.

_Klaus took a menacing step forward, he seemed bigger now or maybe Diego was smaller. Diego wasn’t sure why he was afraid of his brother, Klaus would never hurt him but Diego felt like he wanted to be as small as he could. Disappear into himself to get away from those dark eyes that were lined with just a hint of liner_

_“Pain means you’re alive.” Klaus snapped._

Diego surged forward, taking in a deep lungful of air. Someone was beside him and he glanced over to see Five holding onto his arm

“Hey Five. Glad you’re alright.” He croaked. Five shrugged

“Don’t do it again.” He said as he let go of Diego and sat down in the chair beside the bed. Diego laid back and caught sight of the other person in the room.

Kaus. Klaus who was smiling at him with dark circles around his eyes and who was in hospital scrubs with a white coat. The smile didn’t quite reach his eyes and he had a journal tucked into his chest. Diego recognized the book, it was one their father had often spent hours scribbling in.

“Hey. I need one of you to call a family meeting.” Klaus said

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the original version of this chapter Diego died and Five goes back in time to bring him back because Klaus blames himself and starts to self destruct. I rewrote it this morning. Your welcome.


	7. The wound heals but it never does

Vanya sat looking out the window of Klaus’ office. It was a nice view, he was on the sixth floor so she could see quite a ways. She wasn’t really paying attention to the view, her mind tumbling and stumbling over what Klaus had told her during their session. 

“I have powers.” She murmured to herself. It was probably the third or fourth time she had said it aloud and it still didn’t taste right on her tongue. It couldn’t be right. She was ordinary. She had always been ordinary. But Klaus had promised when she had started therapy with him that he would never willingly lie to her about anything and that she was to do the same. It was how he worked with all his patients. AN exchange of trust. Klaus was watching her, a worried look on his face no doubt. 

“V? What are you feeling?” He asked and she let a small shutter rake through her body.

“Angry. Scared. Numb.” She said turning back to him. He nodded. 

“He was keeping you numbed down with your anxiety meds. Now I am going to start helping you ease off them. I don’t want you to stop cold turkey because it would be overwhelming and could cause you to lose control. Skip the pill every three days to start.” Klaus said and Vanya nodded. She returned to her seat across from him

“Why would he deny that I had any powers at all? It doesn’t make any sense.” She said and Klaus sighed

“We both know Father wanted to be in control of every aspect of our abilities. I think he couldn’t control you when you used yours. Not to mention you killed like five nannies over porridge.” He said and Vanya snorted in amusement

“I hate that stuff. Feels like slime going down my throat.” She muttered looking down at her hands. 

“Vanya.” Klaus aid and she looked up at him

“Are you okay?” He asked gently and she frowned. 

“Yeah, I think I need some time but I’ll be okay.” She said. He nodded and pulled out their father’s journal.

“Do you want to read it?” He asked and she shook her head. Any desire to read what that man said about her was gone, buried under feelings of anger and disgust. How could he think it was okay to make her feel inadequate just because he couldn’t control her? She was a person, she wasn’t a toy for him to discard. 

“Alright. Ugh, I’ve gotta go do a psych eval on a sixteen-year-old who wants to do the change.” Klaus said and Vanya giggled

“Why is that so bad?” She asked and he sighed

“It’s not bad. It’s just, most teenagers don’t understand that changing your sex is a huge decision. They try to do it without really thinking that there’s no going back. If you become a girl, you’re stuck a  _ girl _ . Even if you decide three years down the road that you don’t like being a girl anymore. Most of the time I don’t clear them which causes a meltdown. I have no problem with people doing the change it’s just…it’s a big decision.” Klaus explained. Vanya kinda understood. 

“Do you think you’ll ever have a sex change?” She asked and he raised an eyebrow. 

“Nah, I thought about it once. I like being a guy, I like sex with guys, I sometimes like sex with women. I like guys. I like my partners to get all rough and pushy during sex. I like to be held down and ravaged.” Klaus said with a salacious wiggle of his eyebrows and a lewd grin on his face. Vanya let out a little laugh and groaned

“I should have never asked.” She said, her face was heating up and was no doubt a dark shade of red.

“Ah but my dear, you did.” He said standing. She got up as well, knowing that the session was over since they had reached inappropriate topics

“Thank you, Klaus. Do you think you could walk me down to Diego’s room? I’m not sure how to get there.” She said and he nodded

“Yeah, I should probably check on Five anyways.” He said.

 

Klaus collapsed into his office chair and did a little spin. It had been a long day already. Checking his watch, he saw that it was only eleven. 

“Lunch break.” He muttered grabbing his ID from where he usually forgot it. He locked up his top drawer so that no one could get his prescription pads and headed towards the cafeteria. The line was moving lazily, he reworked his order three times before deciding on just getting a prepackaged sandwich. There was a tuna on rye that he grabbed as well as an orange and a bottle of chocolate milk. He was about to go eat in his office when he saw Luther sitting alone in a corner booth. 

“Fuck.” He muttered to himself before striding over and sitting down across from the big guy. 

“Klaus?” Luther asked and Klaus grinned

“Fancy meeting you here.” He said and Luther stared at him blankly

“I think that was the first thing you said to me when we saw each other again.” Luther said and Klaus blinked. He ran back through the interactions he’d had with his family and nodded

“Yeah, I was sitting in the sitting room, right? You come in and stare at me and I said it.” Klaus said taking a big bite of his sandwich. 

“Why’d you leave?” Luther asked and Klaus paused in his chewing. 

“I…Father was killing me. I was slowly losing my mind to the ghosts and the drugs. I couldn’t do it anymore.” Klaus said softly. Luther nodded slowly

“Why’d you stay?” Klaus asked. Luther gave him a weak grin

“You. In case you came back. I didn’t want you to be alone in the house with Father.” Luther said and Klaus dropped his sandwich

“Shit. I’m sorry. We’re all fucked up, aren’t we?” Klaus said with a humorless chuckle

“You don’t seem to be doing too bad. You’ve got a good job, a stable life.” Luther said and Klaus sighed

“Appearances can be deceiving.” He said. He rolled the orange over to Luther who picked it up and absentmindedly started to peel it. 

“Did you ever think about coming back?” Luther asked and Klaus looked down at his food

“Yeah. Every day.” He murmured. 

“I’m glad you didn’t. You always deserved better than Father.” Luther said.

“We all did.” Klaus agreed.

 

Diego woke to someone pulling the book he had fallen asleep reading out of his lax grip. Groggily he opened his eyes to see Klaus setting the book down on the tray and poking through the chart. Klaus didn’t seem to notice that Diego was awake. He was singing softly to himself, Diego couldn’t understand the words, his voice was too low and he seemed to be singing in another language. His shoulders were hunched like he had a heavy weight, his skin was pale and almost translucent. Diego wondered how much Klaus was working. Klaus turn to leave and Diego reached out and grabbed his hand. 

“Dn’t go.” He slurred. They had upped his pain meds making his mind fuzzy. Klaus turned back to him and sat beside him. 

“You look like shit Diego.” Klaus said. Diego huffed

“So do you.” He said before he could stop himself. Klaus groaned and flopped his head in his hands

“I feel like shit.” He muttered. Diego frowned and shuffled over in the bed

“Go ta sleep.” He said. Klaus raised his head and gave him a look that said ‘really?’ and Diego shrugged

“Only thing missin ‘s Ben.” He slurred. Klaus let out a shake laugh and gently slid into the bed beside Diego. Diego listened to Klaus’ breath even out and thought about the piles the three of them had slept in when they had been kids. He clumsily patted Klaus’ head

“Sweet dreams Ghost Boy.” He murmured

“Go to sleep Stabby.” Klaus murmured back. Diego grinned as he closed his eyes and drifted off into a light sleep. He woke again to Klaus turning towards him and tucking his body into Diego’s side. His mind was clearer and so he took the chance to study Klaus. The other man looked younger when he slept, his face losing the tension Diego hadn’t realized he carried. 

“I’ll be damned. I didn’t think Klaus was in any sort of relationship. He never seemed to be the type to let anyone close. Especially after the incident.” A female voice said from the doorway. Diego raised an eyebrow

“What incident?” He asked and the nurse frowned. 

“He didn’t tell you? About two years ago there was a nice young man named Conner who was admitted to the psych ward for schizophrenia and drugs. He was a sweet thing at first and took a shine to Klaus. Looked up to Klaus as if he was an older brother. One day Klaus is running late, I think his train was delayed due to some sort of suspicious package. Anyways Conner flips out, saying that we’re keeping Klaus from him.” The nurse paused at this point in the story and Diego was almost afraid to hear the end. 

“What happened?” He asked. The nurse got a haunted look on her face

“He somehow got a gun, we never could figure out how. My theory was that he got it off a guard on the prison wing when one of them brought a prisoner up to the psych ward for therapy. He shot a nurse and four patients and held the entire wing of the ward hostage for six hours. He was finally killed by the police but not before the nurse and one of the other patients died. Klaus was distraught. I don’t think he ever recovered fully.” She said softly. Diego let her change his drip in silence, unable to take his eyes off Klaus who lay peacefully in his arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost made Diego's nickname Chuckie but since the posters for that movie always freaked me out I decided against it.  
> This chapter took bit to write, I wasn't sure how I wanted the last scene between Klaus and Diego to go and I'm still not completely happy with it.
> 
> 3/8/19 edit - Hi guys, this is a new little note to discuss the fact that there is a conversation in this chapter that several people have called transphobic. I understand where they are coming from as it involves Klaus denying a teenager the change. However, I AM A PSYCHOLOGY MAJOR which means that I know about how teenagers minds work. The whole conversation was born from the fact that I had just gotten out of a lecture where we discussed that teenagers don't have the ability to really think long term. I'm not transphobic, I'm simply using my knowledge as a psychology major to make the conversation realistic. If you do not agree with my ideas, stop reading, it doesn't hurt my feelings.


	8. If heaven’s grief brings hell’s rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hard to write. I'm not good at fighting scenes.

When Diego woke the next morning Klaus was gone. Ben was sitting beside him talking to someone 

“Why? Why the hell would you tell him that? You swore!” Ben said in a angry hiss. Diego’s curiosity was piqued so he kept his breathing even and his eyes shut. 

“I donno. Does it really matter? He still feels that way about you and Diego. It’s good, it means you have a chance.” Five said sounding embarrassed. 

“No, no I don’t because you said it yourself. He doesn’t want to choose and I won’t make him.” Ben said. Diego felt confused. Make who choose? Choose what?

“So don’t make him choose. Klaus loves both of you.” Five said. Diego stuttered in his breathing catching Five’s attention

“Diego?” Five asked and Diego’s eyes flickered open. Both of his brothers were watching him

“How much of that did you hear?” Ben asked and Diego shrugged

“Enough.” He croaked before licking his lips and adding, “He doesn’t love me.” Five threw his hands up like he was talking to idiots

“He loves both of you. Neither of you saw how distraught he was when Diego coded on that table or all the fucking notebooks of letters he writes.” Five snapped. Ben took a step back at the venom in his voice and Diego raised an eyebrow. 

“He tried to suffocate me.” He said bluntly and Five shrugged unapologetic

“I think that was mostly my fault. I got him worked up by revealing his life story and you were an easy target.” Five said and Ben snorted.

“He’s right about that.” Ben said and Diego frowned. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know how he was an easy target. 

“Did you guys see him this morning?” Diego asked changing the subject. Ben got a mischievous grin on his face and flicked through his phone before showing Diego a photo of Klaus curled up in Diego’s arms. Diego fought the blush down

“Cute. Send it to me por favor.” He said and Ben rolled his eyes

“Now that we’re all agreeing that Klaus loves the two of you idiots can we start planning on how we’re going to get you three together?” Five asked and Ben sighed

“Fine. What’s your plan genius?” He said and Five grinned. 

“Well the apocalypse is in a few days and Diego is limited to the hospital so our options are rather slim. Not to mention-” Five was cut off when the power went out

“That’s not supposed to happen is it?” Ben asked.

“Definitely not.” Five agreed. Diego pushed the blankets off him as red lights flickered on

“Get me some clothes and my knives.” He said gruffly.

 

Klaus was in the middle of doing a psych eval on a very fidgety teenager when the power cut out. He frowned. 

“Wait here a moment.” He said standing and leaving the cubicle. 

“What’s going on?” He asked a woman who was standing by the ER nurses station. She shrugged and seemed to be looking for someone

“Alright.” Klaus said then turned to the nurse at the desk

“I’m going to head back up to my wing. If power’s out I’ll need to be there to keep the peace.” He said. The nurse nodded and Klaus all but ran towards the stairs. The psych wing was on the sixth floor and the red emergency lights didn’t give off much actual light. He wasn’t the only one rushing along the stairs, there was heavy traffic heading in both directions. He was out of breath by the time he reached the sixth floor and yanked the door open to find utter chaos. 

“Fuck.” He swore and started helping the nurses and other doctors restrain the patients who looked like they were going to be the most dangerous. He got elbowed several times, bitten once, and kicked in the balls twice. Once the worst offenders were sedated and laying out he started to redirect the ones who looked like they were just freaking out

“The lights will be back on soon.” He told one woman as he lead her over to a chair so that she could sit down. Once she was sitting he headed over to a man who was staring at the corner mumbling

“Hey there, why don’t you go on to your room man.” He said. The man paused in his mumbling before shuffling down the hall towards a room. Klaus wasn’t sure if it was  _ his _ room but it was good enough. 

“Klaus!” Lucy called from the door leading to the kids ward. He headed over rubbing at the bite mark on his arm. It was oozing blood and he knew he should probably get it at least disinfected. 

“Looks like you went through hell.” Lucy commented and Klaus leaned against the wall

“How are the kids?” He asked. She shrugged

“Scared but no one went mental.” Lucy said grabbing his arm and looking at the bite mark

“Think I’ll get rabies?” He joked and she slapped his shoulder playfully

“Nah. Looks like it hurts.” She said and he shrugged

“My brother’s given me worse to be honest.” He said. Lucy gave him an odd look and he realized what he had said

“Shit. Well it’s not like it’s going to remain a secret for much longer. My name isn’t actually Klaus Fischer. It’s a long story but I’m a Hargreeves and I think this power outage may be someone trying to kill me.” Klaus said. Lucy gave him a look that said she thought he was mental until Diego, Five, and Ben all shot into the room

“Klaus!” Diego said pitching forward. Klaus caught him

“You shouldn’t be up idiot.” He chided and Lucy laughed

“I’m betting he’s the one that bit you. Fuck, Klaus. I’d better get a drink with this story when...whatever’s after you is gone.” Lucy said. Klaus pillowed Diego’s head in his lap and grinned up at her

“Actually it was Ben that bit me. We wanted to know if our powers were communicable through saliva and no one wanted to see the dead. I thought having tentacles was cool though.” Klaus said and Lucy cackled

“Only you. Only you.” She said before disappearing back into the kids ward. 

“Anyone know what’s going on?” Klaus asked helping Diego back to his feet

“Yeah. The Commission is here for you.” Five said like it was obvious. Klaus rolled his eyes and led them towards his office. 

“These the guys that shot Diego?” Klaus asked dropping Diego onto his loveseat. 

“Yup. More than likely.” Five said in a voice that was way to chipper for the mood of the events. 

“Good. Let's get these fuckers.” Klaus said and he closed his eyes so he could focus. The first sign of his ghostly friends’ appearance was the shift in temperature. The room grew colder and Klaus heard the shift of bodies as the room became way to crowded. Next was the smell of gunpowder, blood, mud, and sweat. He opened his eyes to see most of his battalion crowded into the room, the rest he knew were milling around outside the door in the hallway. 

“Holy shit Klaus.” Ben said poking his head out of the office. Klaus gave him a weak smile

“Let’s hope this goes quickly. I can’t keep everyone going for too long.” Klaus said. Five nodded. 

“Get rid of most of them, keep a few here to guard you and Diego. Me and Ben will try and find them.” He ordered. Klaus raised an eyebrow 

“Bossy.” He mumbled but did as he was told. Five and Ben teleported out of the room and Diego waved two of the ghosts over to him

“Help me barricade the door.” He said. Klaus sunk onto the window ledge and watched as Nickel and Pinch helped Diego shove the two filing cabinets onto their side and stack them onto each other in front of the door. 

“This is madness.” He muttered. How in the hell had his life gone from being mostly normal to a shit show again. Diego slipped down beside him

“Now what?” Klaus asked and Diego passed him a knife.

“Now we wait.” He said.

 

Five peered around the corner and spotted Hazel. He waved Ben over

“One of our targets is around the corner. I need you to distract him.” He whispered. Ben raised an eyebrow and peered around the corner before nodding

“Aright. What do I do?” He asked and Five raised his eyes to the heavens. 

“Turn into a monster?” He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ben blushed and stepped into the open. It had been a while since Five had seen Ben work. His beast was much larger than Five remembered, more limbs and definitely more anger. Five didn’t even have to lift a finger before Ben roared and ripped Hazel in half. Impressed, Five watched as the tentacles tore the body into little pieces before receding

“Nice.” He said once Ben was back to human. Ben shot him a glare and wiped a sole smear of blood off his shirt. He had definitely gotten more precise in his kills, Five noted, less messy too. 

“That was Hazel. He usually works with a woman named Cha-Cha.” Five said as they headed down the hall

“She’ll be alone then?” Ben asked and Five nodded 

“She’s the dangerous one though. Crazy enough to be a danger, sane enough to blend in.” Five said clinically. Ben sighed

“Lovely. Any idea where she’d be?” He asked. Five stopped to think for a moment

“She would have done her homework. She would know that Klaus is a psychiatrist.” Five said. 

“We need to get back up there.” Ben said grabbing Five’s blaiser. Five brushed his hand away

“That’s why I left Diego and the ghosts. They’ll keep Klaus safe until we can get up there the  _ normal  _ way.” Five said. He didn’t want to admit that he was running low on energy. Five led the way to the nearest staircase. Ben pushed past him as they raced up the stairs. They were both out of breath when they reached the psych floor. Five pushed the door open slowly and saw Cha-Cha holding a gun to a woman’s head

“Come out or I’ll blow her brains out.” He heard Cha-Cha threaten. There was the sound of something heavy moving and then the door to Klaus’ office opened. 

“Shit.” Five said pushing the stairwell door open and Ben pushed past him. Klaus stood in the doorway to his office, a dark look on his face

“Let her go.” He said, his voice low and full of simmering rage. 

“Aw, little Ghost Boy wants his friend.” Cha-Cha taunted, pressing the gun further into the woman’s temple

“It’s going to be alright Lu, everything is going to be okay.” Klaus said. The woman whimpered

“Klaus.” She said. 

BANG. The woman’s body slumped to the floor. Blood spattered the wall to the left of Cha-Cha. Five watched as Cha-Cha pointed the gun at Klaus

“Your turn.” She said. Five couldn’t see her face but he knew she was smiling. Klaus cocked his head

  
“Fuck you bitch.” He said. The bullet fired and ricochet off an invisible barrier. At the same time Cha-Cha seemed to be forced to straighten her spine, her body arching off the floor until she was on her tippy toes. He was choking her with telekinesis, Five realized. Klaus took a step towards Cha-Cha, pulling one of Diego’s knives out from behind him. With one swift motion he slashed across her throat spraying blood all over himself. Five watched dispassionately as she choked on her own blood and Klaus knelt down beside the woman she had killed

“I’m sorry Lu.” Klaus murmured closing the woman’s eyes. Ben came up behind him and put a hand on Klaus’ shoulder. 

“Where’s Diego? Is he...” He asked and Klaus shook his head

“We got in a scuffle. He’s being detained on my couch after he almost pulled his stitches.” Klaus said. Diego took that moment to appear, one arm draped over a ghost’s shoulder. Five recognized him from the first day he’d been back.

“They’ll keep coming.” Five said. 

“What?” Ben snapped

“We need to get through the next four days. Then we’ll be in the clear.” Five said. The red lights flickered before the regular lights came back on. 

“We need to get out of here.” Diego said. Five nodded and Ben went over to take over supporting his brother from the ghost. The ghost faded away and Klaus went to Diego’s other side. 

“I can teleport us to the house but I’ll be done after that.” FIve said taking Ben’s hand. The sensation of being sucked down a drain persisted for only a moment before they were in the familiar surroundings of the sitting room. Luther and Allison who had been sitting with their heads close together jumped apart at their sudden appearance

“Don’t mind us, we just killed two time traveling assassins.” Klaus said breaking away with Diego. Ben followed the two of them out of the room and Five flopped down on the couch across from his siblings.

“What happened?” Luther said and Five shot him a sardonic smile

“We just killed two time traveling assassins. Don’t you listen?” He said. 


	9. That all this time I've been afraid, wouldn't let it show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Surprise! New chapter. I'm really sorry for how long it took me to write this short chapter. I was having trouble with the first scene. I want to thank a-deliciouslyfadingcollection from tumblr who was talking to me earlier who gave me some suggestions and while I didn't specifically follow any of the advice they gave I did get inspired.

Klaus laid Diego out onto the bed in the knife wielder’s room and then collapsed onto the floor beside it. He was still in shock, he knew, and that was perfectly okay. Not only had he just killed someone, he had just watched his best friend die. Ben slid down to sit beside him

“Are you okay?” He asked and Klaus shrugged.

“Not sure yet.” He replied. Diego made a noise

“You okay?” Klaus asked lifting his head enough to half see Diego

“I feel like I got run over by a large bus or a stampede of elephants.” Diego groaned. Klaus snorted

“Do you think this is over?” Klaus asked and Ben let out a weak laugh

“I sure hope so. I don’t think I can take much more.” Ben said and Klaus had to agree. It had been so long since he’d had to deal with such pressure.

“Well, at least one good thing came out of all of this shit.” He mused

“What?” Diego asked

“I got close to you all again.” Klaus said. Diego reached blindly for him and Klaus grasped his hand earning himself a light squeeze. He took Ben’s hand and sighed

“The three musketeers again.” Ben murmured and Klaus sat up so they were both leaning against the bed.

“Yeah. Ugh, getting my name changed on my medical license is going to be a bitch.” He bemoaned. Diego laughed and then let out a pained moan

“Don’t make me laugh, please. It hurts.” He gasped and Ben stood

“I’m going to go get you a morphine drip from the infirmary. Klaus, keep him from running away.” Ben said before leaving the room. Klaus slid up so he was sitting on the bed beside Diego

“Wanna talk about it?” He asked rubbing his thumb over Diego’s calloused knuckles. Diego scrunched his nose up

“Talk about what?” Diego asked, pushing himself up into a half sitting position against the headboard.

“Whatever has you and Ben at odds. It always used to be the two of you teaming up against _my_ stupidity.” Klaus said. Diego flushed

“Do we have to?” He asked and Klaus shrugged

“No, but if you don’t tell me you should at least talk to each other. I spent half my life running from my problems. Letting myself get hurt because I thought I deserved it for abandoning everyone. Don’t do the same, okay?” Klaus said. Diego digested the words before nodding

“It’s about you.” He said softly.  Klaus settled in to listen and Diego sighed

“We know about your feelings for both of us and we both feel the same way but it seems that the three of us are stupidly selfless and won’t make any decisions.” Diego said. Klaus felt his stomach drop out.

“Fuck. Five brought this up, didn’t he? He’s nosey enough to poke this fucking bear.” Klaus muttered. Diego snorted

“Yeah, he was talking to Ben about it in my hospital room when I woke up this morning.” Diego said and Klaus huffed.

“I can’t destroy my relationships with the two of you. Not like that.” He said softly pulling his hand away and looking down.

“What if we all, you know, were a part of it.” Diego said awkwardly. Klaus looked up with a confused look

“What?” He asked and Diego shifted

“There was a girl in the academy, she was in a relationship with another girl and a guy.” Diego said and Klaus frowned

“You mean a triad. You think we’d be a good triad.” Klaus said dumbstruck. Diego sighed

“Yeah I guess I’m talking about polyamory.” Diego said. Ben returned and Klaus jumped to his feet

“I need to go. I just.” He stammered before rushing out the door

“What was that about?” He heard Ben ask but didn’t stick around for the answer.

 

Klaus shoved his hands into his pockets as he strode down the street. It had been two days since the hospital had happened. He had been cooped up in that infernal house, none of the others letting him leave. He needed time to himself but Five had been adamant that he not be left alone. He was dressed nicely, black suit and tie that Pogo had gotten for him. The chimp had turned out to be a good ear to talk to, listening quietly when Klaus had ranted about the others. Klaus took a deep breath when he reached his destination, the cemetery. He slowly walked up to the group gathered, several from the hospital greeting him with watery smiles.

“I’m glad you came Klaus.” Lucy murmured from where she stood beside her casket. Klaus didn’t reply. Couldn’t in front of the others. Here he was not a Hargreeves. Here he was just a doctor grieving a fallen friend. The service passed and Klaus remained until the cemetery workers started coving the casket with dirt. Lucy’s ghost remained as well, standing beside him

“What now?” She asked as they started the long walk back to the Academy.

“I donno Lu. The world ends in a few days so I guess nothing really matters.” He said and she snorted

“You were never one to give up. Is this about Diego and Ben?” She asked and Klaus hated how ghosts could access his mind.

“I don’t understand why they want to be with me.” He muttered, shoving his hands back into his pockets to keep them from twitching.

“The same reasons you want to be with them? You love them, they love you. It’s not hard to do the math.” Lucy said and Klaus shook his head

“Nothing is that simple. They don’t love each other. Not like that.” Klaus said earing an odd stare from a older couple that were passing him. Klaus ignored their glares and continued walking

“How do you know that? You’ve not seen them for years.” She said and he shrugged

“There was nothing between them before except sibling love. I…I can’t take the chance that I lose both of the for good. That if we try this and we fail that they won’t want anything to do with me. I love them too much, to lose them like that would…” He trailed off, stopping and looking up at the sky. It was starting to fade into night. The sky was almost dark as the sun was just below the horizon. The light from it barely there.

“You’d kill yourself if it didn’t work out?” Lucy asked softly. He shrugged and started walking again.

“Knowing that they were alive, well, and living their lives without me out of my reach because I destroyed our relationship. It would be the worst sort of torture.” He said. Lucy nodded

“I think you should try. You will never know if this triad will work unless you take leap and try.” She said. He looked over at her. She was still wearing her hospital scrubs, the diamond engagement ring still on her finger. She had been questioning whether or not she had wanted to go through with the wedding, hadn’t been sure if she was ready for the commitment. Robert had been patient. Had told her that he would wait forever for her to be ready.

“If you were still alive, would you have married Rob?” He asked and she smiled

“Yes, I would have. That’s why I’m telling you to take the chance. You never know if you will be able to later.” She said.

 

Diego heard the front door open and close. He rushed to the top of the stairs to see Klaus at the door, hands pressed on it with his head bowed between them.

“Klaus?” He said softly, his voice still carrying through the silence.

“I’m fine.” Klaus said without moving from his position. Diego slowly descended, his instincts telling him that Klaus was as far from okay as he could get.

“Where’ve you been?” Diego asked. Klaus took a sharp breath

“Lucy’s funeral was today. I couldn’t not be there.” Klaus said standing up and turning to face Diego. He was wearing a black suit that was unbuttoned, his tie looked like someone had been pulling on it and there was blood splattered across the white button up

“Looks like it was a rowdy funeral.” Diego commented dryly. Klaus frowned, looked down and spotted the blood

“No, I got that from the fight.” Klaus said picking at his shirt. It worried Diego that Klaus didn’t seem phased with the blood that speckled his shirt, like it was something that wasn’t worrying.

“What were you doing fighting?” Diego asked with false lightness.

“I went to a bar, needed a drink to give myself some courage. This guy comes up to me and tries to buy me a drink. I turn it down and tell him that I am taken. He doesn’t take it well and tries to grab me. I punched him and then the bouncers broke it up. Guy’s nose was spraying.” Klaus said. Diego blinked

“Alright. Why did you need courage?” He asked, Klaus looked up at him for the first time and gave him a small smile

“To do this.” He said and then he was up in Diego’s space, lips pressed together. It took Diego all of three seconds to respond, gripping Klaus’ hips and forcing his tongue into Klaus’ mouth. Klaus’ arms went around Diego’s neck and their kiss deepened. Klaus tasted like a rum and coke and sugar. The door opened and Diego pulled away as Luther stepped inside

“You’re home.” Luther said, a blush creeping up his face at the position his brothers were in. Klaus buried his face into Diego’s neck to hide the snickers that were coming from him.

“We’re going upstairs. Text everyone else and tell them he’s home.” Diego said before pulling Klaus upstairs to his room. Klaus flopped down onto the bed

“Fuck.” Klaus breathed in a airy voice. He had a grin on his face as his eyes slid close. Diego helped him get his jacket off and undid the tie when Klaus proved to be far to intoxicated to undo it himself.

“Are you going to remember any of this when you wake up tomorrow?” He asked and Klaus hummed

“Yeah, I unfortunately remember everything I do when I’m drunk. It sucks because I did some really embarrassing shit in college when drunk off my ass.” Klaus said. Diego let out a soft chuckle as he pulled Klaus’ shoes off. Ben slid into the room at that point and Klaus made grabby hands for him

“Come ‘er.” Klaus slurred and Ben slid into the bed beside him. Klaus pressed a light kiss on Ben’s lips.

“Sorry I worried you guys. Just had to say goodbye to Lu.” Klaus said laying back and closing his eyes. Diego laid on one side of him and Ben laid on the other

“Sorry about your friend.” Ben said and Klaus sighed

“No one’s ever really gone. It’s the downfall of my powers. I can never truly make my peace with the dead.” He said. Diego reached across him to grab Ben’s hand and Ben gave him a quick squeeze.

“Go to sleep.” Diego murmured. Klaus let out a soft noise of content and drifted off. Diego and Ben followed, the three of them curled into each other.

Three pieces of a whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have one last chapter to go through. I'm not sure when I'll get it written, hopefully tomorrow as I have no classes. I just want to thank all of you for your support, this was my first story in this fandom and it is one of my most popular stories that I've ever written. Please check out some of the other awesome writers in this fandom, there are so many that are so good I can't even start to give a list.


	10. I made it through the day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, my gosh. This story has gotten over ten thousand views. I had a hard decision on how to write this last chapter as I wanted it to be sweet and fun. I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and thank you so much for reading!

The morning of the supposed apocalypse came with the seven siblings sitting in the kitchen in silence. Klaus sat between Diego and Ben, barely touching his food. 

“We should do something.” Vanya said catching everyone’s attention

“Like what?” Allison asked and Vanya shrugged

“An amusement park opened up two weeks ago. It’s like two hours away but sounds really cool.”  Ben piped up. Klaus nodded

“Sounds fun.” He said. Diego got a competitive look in his eyes and grinned at Luther

“I bet you I can win something bigger than you can.” He said and Klaus knew Luther was sold. 

“I guess that solves the problem of what we’re doing today.” Allison said standing. The rest of them followed suit, dividing off to get money and anything they wanted to take with them. Diego pulled Klaus to his room with Ben on their heels. Klaus was still iffy on the PDA in front of their siblings so Diego made sure that it was just the three of them before he pressed Klaus into a wall and kissed him senseless.

“Relax, Ghost Boy, today’s going to be a good day.” Diego assured pulling back so Ben could kiss Klaus. Klaus felt himself melt under their touches. 

“We’re going to hold everyone up.” He murmured and Diego nosed along his neck

“We can drive on our own.” He murmured nipping at his neck. Klaus whimpered as his two boyfriends crowded into his space to mark him up. They were, of course, interrupted by Five banging on the door. 

“Let’s go.” Five shouted and Diego pulled back. Ben took another minute to unbury his red face from Klaus’ neck. Once they were presentable Diego led the way to where everyone was waiting. 

“Took you long enough.” Five said and then teleported into the backseat of Diego’s impala. 

“What makes you think you’re riding with us?” Diego asked but there wasn’t any heat to his words. Klaus slid into the backseat beside his brother as Diego and Ben climbed into the front. The car ride was filled with crappy pop music that Klaus made sure to sing along with at the top of his lungs because it annoyed Five, Diego and Ben telling embarrassing stories about Luther and Allison’s many triasts after Klaus and Five had disappeared. Klaus shared a few of his own stories, mostly about high school which seemed to fascinate his siblings. Once they got to the park and bought tickets Five took off towards the largest ride in the park

“They’re never going to let him on that.” Klaus said with sad amusement. Diego snorted and headed for the nearest game. It was a balloon dart game and Diego slid his arm around Klaus’ waist as Klaus pulled Ben along. 

“Which one do you want?” Diego asked and Klaus surveyed the array of stuffed animals. There was a backpack that had a hood attached that was decorated with unicorn horns and ears. 

“The unicorn backpack. Definitely the unicorn backpack.” Klaus said catching the guy who runs the stand’s attention

“To get that you’ll have to hit three gold balloons.” The man warned and Diego grinned

“I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.” Diego said and Klaus giggled. Ben and him watched as Diego paid and got his five darts. His first shot hit a gold balloon on the outer ring and Klaus cheered. The second hit a blue balloon, the third hit another gold balloon on the inner ring.

“One more Dee. Get me that backpack.” Klaus cheered. Ben rested his head on Klaus’ shoulder, wrapping his arms around Klaus waist to keep him from bouncing too much. Diego made a big show about aiming the fourth dart before letting it loose and hitting a gold balloon on a middle ring. 

“Well, that’s good throwing.” The stand runner said as Diego passed him the last dart. The man used a hook to get the backpack down and handed it to Klaus who promptly gave Diego a filthy kiss. The three of them made their way through the games, winning a bunch of little stuffed animals that Klaus shoved into his new backpack. At lunch time they got hot dogs, cheese fries, and soda from a vendor and sat by a water ride to eat. 

“We should do this again.” Ben said licking cheese sauce from his fingers. Klaus grinned

“We should come for halloween. I bet they make this place great.” He said and Diego snorted

“I can’t believe you are still obsessed with Halloween.” He said and Klaus pouted

“It's the best holiday. You get to dress up, get candy, and play pranks.” Klaus said and Ben kissed him. 

“I know. Remember when we rigged the simulator to speak in that spooky voice.” Ben said and Klaus grinned

“Or when we replaced all the lightbulbs in the library with black lights.” Diego said and Klaus laughed

“We had so much fun.” He mused. After lunch they walked around and planned out their afternoon. Diego wanted to ride some rides and Ben had seen a tower of terror that looked cool. Klaus, who didn’t care for rides said he would watch the two of them. They ran into Five at the Tower of terror who looked like he was going to punch someone. 

“What’s wrong?” Klaus asked and Five sneered

“I’m not tall enough to ride The Raptor.” Five said and Klaus frowned. 

“That sucks. That’s the big one over yonder with the black and red paint job, right?” Klaus said waving in the general direction of the ride

“Yeah. I’m two inches too short and the guy manning the ride isn’t impressed with my vocabulary.” Five grumbled. Klaus chuckled

“I bet. We can go on the bumper cars later and you can run everyone over.” Klaus said and Five perked up

“Only if you get everyone to do it. It’s not as much fun if I can’t run Luther over.” Five said and Klaus snorted. He pulled out his phone and sent a group text that they were doing bumper cars at three and that Five demanded everyone’s presence. Everyone agreed which seemed to please the thirteen-year-old. Ben and Diego came out of the tower of terror with huge grins on their faces

“Come on, we’re doing the mirror house next.” Ben said and Klaus followed them. Five disappeared into the crowds again and Klaus just hoped he wasn’t going to terrorize the guy manning The Raptor ride again. They made it through the mirror house in record time leaving them with forty five minutes before having to get to bumper cars. They took advantage of the time by doing the twisty-rope bridge game, each winning a new stuffed animal and earning dark looks from the others attempting the game. Everyone met at the entrance to the bumper car game, Five looked like he’d had fun doing whatever he had decided to do and Klaus decided he really didn’t need to know what that was. It turned out Vanya was the best at bumper cars, followed by Allison and then Ben. 

“That was fun.” Vanya said cheerfully as they exited the game. Klaus gave both his boys light kisses

“I saw a photo booth by the house of mirrors. We’re going to check that out.” Klaus said dragging Diego and Ben with him. They made two reels each of photos before spilling out of the booth. Klaus checked his Fitbit and saw that it was almost four. 

“We should do another ride before dinner. The park closes at six so we have two hours.” Klaus said. Diego and Ben shared a look

“The Raptor.” They said and Klaus grinned.

“See if you can sneak Five on. He’s been dying to go on that ride all day.” Klaus said and they made their way to the largest ride in the park. Five was watching the ride from the side rail and Klaus slid up beside him

“Dee and Ben are going on, see if you can’t teleport between them before it starts.” Klaus said and Five’s eyes lit up. He dashed over to a position where he could see where the carts were loaded and Klaus watched as he disappeared. He waited to see if Five would be discovered before heading to the exit to greet his boys. Five was bouncing when he exited the ride, Ben looked slightly sick, and Diego looked content. 

“Have fun?” Klaus ask and Diego nodded. 

“Five nearly fell out on one of the spins.” Ben said and Klaus shrugged

“Yeah, probably the reason he wasn’t supposed to ride this ride then.” He said and ruffled Five’s hair. Ben wrapped an arm around Klaus’ hips and Klaus linked an arm in Diego’s so that he was sandwiched between his lovers.

“Hey!” A voice behind them called and Klaus turned to see a group of maybe six large men stalking towards them

“Can we help you?” Diego asked, the picture of nonchalonce. 

“We don’t want fags here. It ain’t right for kids to see. This is a place for families.” The ringleader said. Klaus raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t know there was a sexuality requirement for an amusement park.” He said sarcastically. 

“This is a place for families.” The man said again and Diego detangled himself from Klaus to step forward

“That’s right. This is a place for families and right now I’m with my family. Get lost.” Diego said sternly. The guy seemed stunned by Diego’s forcefulness and Klaus could see a fight brewing. The moment was saved by Five, who had slipped off to get the guy who was manning the ride. 

“What’s going on here?” The man asked and Klaus had to do a double take. He had expected some scrappy pimply college kid to have been giving Five grief. Instead the guy was built like a tank and had a army regulated buzz cut. Not the type of guy Klaus would have expected to be working at an amusement park

“Nothing.” They homophobic guy said and the ride worker turned to Klaus

“He was spewing some shit. Nothing we’ve not heard before but we were hoping to get a break here. Five had never been to an amusement park and our adoption had just gone through last week.” Klaus said lying through his teeth. The worker raised an eyebrow

“This is your kid?” He asked and Klaus nodded

“It took us quite some time to get the court to approve. Triads are hard for people to wrap their heads around.” Klaus said and the man’s eyes softened

“Yeah. Congratulations on the adoption.” The man said gruffly before heading back to his post. By this time the group that had been causing trouble had dissipated into the crowd

“Where the hell did that come from?” Five asked and Klaus shrugged

“The best lies come from reshaping the truth. He was obviously a vet of some sort but he’s working at an amusement park which tells me he likes kids but probably doesn’t have any of his own. Give him a sob story about how hard it was to adopt a kid because of our relationship and he would have probably beat up anyone who said anything.” Klaus explained. Diego was looking at him like he’d grown a second head and Klaus blushed

“I think we should probably get going. We can stop somewhere for dinner.” Ben said gently guiding Klaus towards the exit. Diego and Five followed behind them. They shoved their prizes into the trunk and headed back towards the city. 

“This was a great day.” Klaus said softly after about an hour of driving. Five had fallen asleep already, his head pillowed in Klaus’ lap as he snored softly. 

“Yeah, a great way to start a new beginning.” Ben agreed. Klaus smiled as he looked out the window. Maybe there hadn’t been a real apocalypse today. Maybe there would be one tomorrow. Maybe the end of the world would never come but Klaus’ world had changed. He had found a life that he had never known he needed. Had found the love that he deserved. The stars twinkled in the dark sky and Klaus saw one shoot across the sky

“I wish this would never end.” He murmured before closing his eyes and joining Five in sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you all for your support. This story was my first or second in this fandom and it was such an amazing journey to have with all of you.

**Author's Note:**

> I hoped you enjoyed this! If you did, leave a kudo and a comment, subscribe if you want to know when there's a new chapter and if you want to easily find this story at a later date, please bookmark.


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